How much do households in Virginia spend on rent?
About $1,441 per month, or 31.6% 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
31.6%
of median income
In 2022,
$1.4K
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.
Virginia'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 Virginia, the rent-to-income ratio reached 32.4% that year. Most recently, in 2022, Virginia’s rent-to-income ratio was 31.6%, 0.1 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 Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, at 56.9% (highest) and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at 21.7% (lowest). In Virginia, the highest and lowest were Blacksburg at 37.3% and Winchester at 26.9%.
During that period, the Charlottesville, Virginia area had the highest median rent at $1,445 per month and the Winchester, Virginia area had the highest median monthly income at $4,630 out of nine Virginia metro areas. The Blacksburg, VA area's rent-to-income ratio was the highest in the state.
Renter income and rent, Virginia metro areas (2018–2022)
| 1. | Blacksburg, VA area | $2,789 |
| 2. | Charlottesville, VA area | $4,587 |
| 3. | Harrisonburg, VA area | $3,830 |
| 4. | Lynchburg, VA area | $3,388 |
| 5. | Richmond, VA area | $4,161 |
| 6. | Roanoke, VA area | $3,406 |
| 7. | Staunton, VA area | $3,242 |
| 8. | Virginia Beach, VA area | $4,240 |
| 9. | Winchester, VA area | $4,630 |
