How much do households in Texas spend on rent?
About $1,290 per month, or 31.4% 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
31.4%
of median income
In 2022,
$1.3K
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.
Texas'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 Texas, the rent-to-income ratio reached 31.0% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Texas’ rent-to-income ratio was 31.4%, 0.3 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 Texas, the highest and lowest were College Station, Texas at 37.9% and San Angelo, Texas at 27.2%.
During that period, the Austin, TX area had the highest median rent at $1,529 per month and the highest median monthly income at $5,193 out of twenty-five Texas metro areas. The Austin, TX area's rent-to-income ratio was the fifteenth in the state.
Renter income and rent, Texas metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Abilene, TX area | $3,589 |
| 2. | Amarillo, TX area | $3,432 |
| 3. | Austin, TX area | $5,193 |
| 4. | Beaumont, TX area | $3,236 |
| 5. | Brownsville, TX area | $2,612 |
| 6. | College Station, TX area | $2,918 |
| 7. | Corpus Christi, TX area | $3,755 |
| 8. | Dallas, TX area | $4,738 |
| 9. | El Paso, TX area | $3,097 |
| 10. | Houston, TX area | $4,214 |
