How much do households in Alabama spend on rent?
About $913 per month, or 32.1% of their income, in 2022. This was measured by comparing median rent and median monthly income for renting households.
Showing data for
In 2022, median rent was
32.1%
of median income
In 2022,
$913
was the median rent per month
Comparing rent to renter income provides one measure of rental affordability. Dividing rent by income provides what is called a rent-to-income ratio. A higher ratio of rent-to-income indicates rent is less affordable while a lower ratio indicates it’s more affordable.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development considers households with a rent-to-income ratio of more than 30%, that is, households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing, to be cost-burdened. Cost-burdened households may have less money for other necessities such as food, healthcare, or savings. When median monthly rent is more than 30% of average monthly income, it means a typical household would meet the definition of housing cost-burdened.
Alabama's rent-to-income ratio was higher than in the US overall in 2022.
Ratio of median gross rent to median renter household income
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The national rent-to-income ratio reached a high of 33.8% in 2011 following the Great Recession. In Alabama, the rent-to-income ratio reached 35.3% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Alabama’s rent-to-income ratio was 32.1%, 0.4 percentage points higher than the national rate.
Across metro areas, the average rent-to-income ratio was 30.8% in 2018–2022.
Ratio of median gross rent to median renter household income, 2018–2022
In 2018–2022, the average rent-to-income ratio across metro areas was 30.8%. The metro areas with the highest and lowest ratios were the Mayagüez, Puerto Rico at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at 21.7% (lowest). In Alabama, the highest and lowest were Auburn at 40.3% and Huntsville at 27.0%.
During the 2018–2022 period, the Daphne, AL area had the highest median rent at $1,160 per month and the Huntsville, AL area had the highest median monthly income at $3,763 out of twelve Alabama metro areas. The Daphne, AL area's rent-to-income ratio was the sixth highest in the state.
Renter income and rent, Alabama metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Anniston, AL area | $2,751 |
| 2. | Auburn, AL area | $2,364 |
| 3. | Birmingham, AL area | $3,306 |
| 4. | Daphne, AL area | $3,681 |
| 5. | Decatur, AL area | $2,795 |
| 6. | Dothan, AL area | $2,729 |
| 7. | Florence, AL area | $2,610 |
| 8. | Gadsden, AL area | $2,655 |
| 9. | Huntsville, AL area | $3,763 |
| 10. | Mobile, AL area | $2,766 |
