WHY IS RENTING IN HOUSTON SO EXPENSIVE?
WHO RENTS IN HOUSTON?
Percentage of Renters
Houston is a city of renters: 58% of households rented in 2021. Harris County is a county of renters: 45% of households rented in 2021, and renters are expected to represent a majority of households in the next 20 years. The proportion of renters in Houston and Harris County contrasts with high homeownership rates in neighboring counties, such as Fort Bend County, where 78% of households are owner-occupied, and Montgomery County, where 72% of households are owner-occupied.
Renter VS Owner Population by Age
Renters in Houston and Harris County differ from homeowners in terms of their age, income, education and race/ethnicity. Renters tend to be younger than homeowners in Houston and Harris County. Of the 390,458 households in Harris County headed by someone less than 35 years old, nearly three-quarters are renters and one-quarter are homeowners.
Renter Population by Race/Ethnicity
More than 60% of Hispanic households, more than 70% of Black households and more than 54% of Asian households rent in the city. By comparison, 56% of White households in Houston were owner-occupied, making them the only racial or ethnic group with a majority owning homes in the city.
Renter Population by Education Levels
In Harris County, as education level increases, homeownership rates increase. About 52% of householders with a high school diploma or less as their highest level of education are renters, compared to 47% of householders with some college and 36% of house-holders with a bachelor’s degree or more. In the city, a higher education level is not as clearly linked to homeownership as it is in the county. Harris County householders with a bachelor’s degree or higher have a 2-to-1 ratio of homeowners to renters. In the city, the ratio of homeowners to renters among householders with a bachelor’s degree or higher is almost evenly split: 51% homeowners and 49% renters.
RENTERS ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY
RENTER STRUGGLES
Percentage of Cost-Burdened Rental Households
“Cost-burdened” households spend more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities. According to the US Department of Housing & Urban Development, cost burdened households may have “difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothes, transportation, and medical care.”
Percentage Increase in Rent and Income
Percentage of “Below Average” Rental Structures
Between 2015 and 2021, rent on a two-bedroom rental increased 30% in Harris County. Wages only increased by about 23%.
The Bigger Picture
In Houston and Harris County, renters are disproportionately people of color. Policies and programs are needed to ensure that Houston’s housing system does not reinforce existing racial disparities, but rather makes it more possible for people of color to improve the quality of their lives and build stronger communities.
Renters also tend to be younger adults, people who may be beginning to build their lives and careers in Houston. For this population, having an affordable rent means being able to pay back student loans, save up money for a down payment, and begin to build wealth that will sustain them for a lifetime.
A rental’s “affordability” is not only a factor of the monthly rent costs but also the living costs for the people in that household. As the saying goes, “the rent eats first.” In a household’s budget, rent is a fixed monthly payment that cannot be easily deferred or reduced to make room for increasing costs elsewhere. Increases in rent will almost always mean less to go toward healthy food options, medical care, child care and other expenditures. It must also be noted that the cost of transportation in a car-dependent city can rival housing costs for some households, making transportation policy an important avenue for addressing long-term housing challenges.
One of the major findings in current research is that households with children are cost-burdened at a much higher rate than households without children, given the additional mouths to feed, health care bills to pay and car trips to make.
