How much do households in Indiana spend on rent?
About $972 per month, or 29.4% 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
29.4%
of median income
In 2022,
$972
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.
Indiana's rent-to-income ratio was lower 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 Indiana, the rent-to-income ratio reached 32.8% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Indiana’s rent-to-income ratio was 29.4%, 2.3 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 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 area, at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin area, at 21.7% (lowest). In Indiana, the metro area with the highest rent-to-income ratio was Bloomington at 40.6%, while the lowest was Columbus at 24.9%.
During that period, the Bloomington, Indiana area had the highest median rent at $1,089 per month, while the Columbus, Indiana area had the highest median monthly income at $4,267 among twelve Indiana metro areas. The Bloomington, IN area's rent-to-income ratio was the highest in the state.
Renter income and rent, Indiana metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Bloomington, IN area | $2,683 |
| 2. | Columbus, IN area | $4,267 |
| 3. | Elkhart, IN area | $3,157 |
| 4. | Evansville, IN area | $3,083 |
| 5. | Fort Wayne, IN area | $3,392 |
| 6. | Indianapolis, IN area | $3,713 |
| 7. | Kokomo, IN area | $3,117 |
| 8. | Lafayette, IN area | $2,856 |
| 9. | Michigan City, IN area | $3,121 |
| 10. | Muncie, IN area | $2,363 |
