How much do households in Iowa spend on rent?
Data updated September 16, 2024
Renters in Iowa paid about $891 per month, or 26.8% 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
26.8%
of median income
In 2022,
$891
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.
Iowa's rent-to-income ratio was lower 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 Iowa, the rent-to-income ratio reached 29.8% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Iowa’s rent-to-income ratio was 26.8%, 4.9 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 Iowa, the highest and lowest were Iowa City, IA area at 33.6% and Des Moines, IA area at 26.3%.
During that period, Des Moines, IA area had the highest median rent at $1.06K per month and highest median monthly income at $4.04K out of eight Iowa metro areas. Its rent-to-income ratio was the eighth highest among the metro areas in the state.
Renter income and rent, Iowa metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Ames, IA area | $3,053 |
| 2. | Cedar Rapids, IA area | $3,252 |
| 3. | Davenport, IA area | $3,088 |
| 4. | Des Moines, IA area | $4,042 |
| 5. | Dubuque, IA area | $3,225 |
| 6. | Iowa City, IA area | $3,142 |
| 7. | Sioux City, IA area | $3,407 |
| 8. | Waterloo, IA area | $3,080 |
