Economy

How much do households in California spend on rent?

Data updated September 16, 2024
About $1.87K per month, or 34.5% of their income, in 2022. This is measured by comparing median rent and median monthly income for renting households.
Showing data for
In 2022, median rent was

34.5%

of median income
In 2022,

$1.87K

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.

California's rent-to-income ratio was higher than in the US overall in 2022.

Ratio of median 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 California, the rent-to-income ratio reached 36.6% that year. Most recently, in 2022, California’s rent-to-income ratio was 34.5%, 2.8 percentage points lower than the national rate.

Across metro areas, the average rent-to-income ratio was 30.8% in 2018–2022.

Ratio of median 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 area at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin area at 21.7% (lowest). In California, the highest and lowest were Oxnard, CA area at 36.4% and Hanford, CA area at 28.2%.
During that period, San Jose, CA had the highest median rent at $2.7K per month and the highest median monthly income at $9.5K out of twenty-six California metro areas. Its rent-to-income ratio was the twenty-fifth highest in the state.

Renter income and rent, California metro areas (2018–2022)

Renter income and rent, California metro areas (2018–2022)

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