A Map of Housing Affordability in Each State

Mike Maciag shares news of a recent report by the National Housing Conference (NHC) that allows a shred of good news among the typically bad news about housing affordability in the United States.

“After years of steady growth, the share of working households considered severely cost-burdened dipped slightly from 23.7 percent in 2011 to 22.1 percent in 2012,” writes Maciag of the report’s findings.

“Between 2009 and 2012, the share of severely cost-burdened working households fell in 30 states, with 13 reporting statistically significant declines.”

The article includes a map of housing affordability in each state, as well as a list of the states with the largest drops in cost-burdened households between those years. Arkansas leads the list, with a 3.8 percent drop.

But it’s still not a good time to be a renter. “Renter households are twice as likely to be cost-burdened as homeowners,” writes Maciag.