Renter housing cost burden by state

Florida has the highest estimate (58.1%); North Dakota has the lowest (33.8%). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 1-year, 2024.

Data year: 2024Source released Sept. 11, 2025Last updated Oct. 23, 2026GCT2515

50 ranked states; DC and Puerto Rico appear as reference rows where the source supplies them. Highest does not mean best. Ranks reflect point estimates; close values may not differ statistically.

Lowest state estimate 33.8% North Dakota

Highest state estimate 58.1% Florida

Each dot is a state. The scale runs from the lowest to highest estimate; intervals are not shown here. Read about uncertainty.

State distribution and comparisons

The middle of the 50-state distribution is 45.85%: the average of the 25th and 26th ordered state estimates. This treats each state equally, so it answers a different question from a population-weighted national estimate.

No other state is statistically tied with Florida at 90% confidence. Every other state differs from the highest point estimate under this pairwise test. This is not a confidence interval for rank, and testing multiple pairs increases false-positive risk.

See the top ten estimates with their 90% margins of error

Shared axis spans the complete 50-state estimate ± MOE range. Intervals describe individual estimates; overlapping intervals alone are not our significance test.

How does burden compare with the dollar cost of rent?

These states’ ranks change the most between renter housing cost burden and monthly renter housing costs. These comparisons identify different questions worth investigating; a rank gap does not measure a causal effect or a statistical difference between unlike units.

State	Renter housing cost burden	Monthly renter housing costs
Alaska	37.4% · #49	$1,444 · #20
Louisiana	47.2% · #18	$1,064 · #41
Montana	38.6% · #46	$1,177 · #31

Inspect these states, definitions and pairwise differences.

Values over time

Annual ACS 1-year estimates, 2021–2024. Each year is a separate published survey release; 2020 is excluded because the Census Bureau did not release standard 1-year estimates for that year. Ranks are recalculated among the same 50 states for each year.

Comparability boundary: Processing change in 2024: the contract-rent cap increased from $10,000 to $20,000 per month, also affecting gross rent. Use caution across this boundary, especially in high-rent areas; published annual ranks are not proof of comparable change. Producer documentation.

Choose a state

The state-by-state view

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Ranked among 50 states; District of Columbia and Puerto Rico shown for reference. Rank 1 = highest value.

Renter housing cost burden · 2024 · Percent
Rank	State / jurisdiction	Value	90% margin of error	Difference from previous rank
1	Florida	58.1%	± 0.7%	Highest estimate
2	Nevada	54.9%	± 1.5%	Different at 90%
3	California	53.0%	± 0.4%	Different at 90%
4	Connecticut	51.1%	± 1.6%	Different at 90%
5	Hawaii	50.6%	± 2.2%	Not distinguishable at 90%
6	Colorado	50.0%	± 1.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
7	New Jersey	49.7%	± 0.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
8	Massachusetts	49.4%	± 1.0%	Not distinguishable at 90%
9	Texas	49.3%	± 0.5%	Not distinguishable at 90%
10	Oregon	49.2%	± 1.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
11	Arizona	49.0%	± 1.1%	Not distinguishable at 90%
12	Georgia	48.8%	± 1.0%	Not distinguishable at 90%
13	New York	48.5%	± 0.6%	Not distinguishable at 90%
14	Maryland	48.4%	± 1.2%	Not distinguishable at 90%
14	Rhode Island	48.4%	± 2.5%	Not distinguishable at 90%
16	Washington	48.3%	± 0.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
17	North Carolina	47.6%	± 0.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
18	Louisiana	47.2%	± 1.4%	Not distinguishable at 90%
18	Michigan	47.2%	± 0.9%	Not distinguishable at 90%
20	Delaware	47.1%	± 3.0%	Not distinguishable at 90%
21	South Carolina	46.9%	± 1.4%	Not distinguishable at 90%
22	Maine	46.4%	± 2.5%	Not distinguishable at 90%
23	New Hampshire	46.2%	± 2.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
24	Virginia	46.1%	± 1.0%	Not distinguishable at 90%
25	Tennessee	45.9%	± 1.1%	Not distinguishable at 90%
26	Pennsylvania	45.8%	± 0.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
27	Utah	45.7%	± 1.6%	Not distinguishable at 90%
28	Vermont	45.5%	± 3.0%	Not distinguishable at 90%
29	Illinois	45.4%	± 0.9%	Not distinguishable at 90%
30	Idaho	45.0%	± 1.9%	Not distinguishable at 90%
31	Indiana	44.9%	± 1.2%	Not distinguishable at 90%
31	Minnesota	44.9%	± 1.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
33	Ohio	44.2%	± 0.7%	Not distinguishable at 90%
34	New Mexico	44.1%	± 2.1%	Not distinguishable at 90%
35	Nebraska	43.5%	± 1.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
36	Mississippi	43.0%	± 1.8%	Not distinguishable at 90%
37	Wisconsin	42.5%	± 1.1%	Not distinguishable at 90%
38	Missouri	41.8%	± 1.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
39	Alabama	41.6%	± 1.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
40	Oklahoma	41.4%	± 1.1%	Not distinguishable at 90%
41	Kentucky	40.2%	± 1.2%	Not distinguishable at 90%
42	Arkansas	40.1%	± 1.7%	Not distinguishable at 90%
43	Kansas	40.0%	± 1.4%	Not distinguishable at 90%
44	Iowa	39.8%	± 1.6%	Not distinguishable at 90%
45	West Virginia	39.1%	± 1.7%	Not distinguishable at 90%
46	Montana	38.6%	± 2.6%	Not distinguishable at 90%
46	Wyoming	38.6%	± 3.5%	Not distinguishable at 90%
48	South Dakota	38.1%	± 2.9%	Not distinguishable at 90%
49	Alaska	37.4%	± 3.3%	Not distinguishable at 90%
50	North Dakota	33.8%	± 2.5%	Not distinguishable at 90%
Ref.	District of ColumbiaNot ranked among states	45.5%	± 2.0%	Reference jurisdiction
Ref.	Puerto RicoNot ranked among states	27.2%	± 1.3%	Reference jurisdiction

50 states plus 2 reference rows.

What this ranking measures

Renter-occupied units spending 30 percent or more of household income on rent and utilities, as published in GCT2515.

This threshold summarizes a ratio; households with the same ratio can have very different money left over. Use the source universe rather than a separately reconstructed denominator.

The size of the gap

The difference between the highest and lowest state estimates is 24.3 percentage points. The U.S. benchmark is 48.2%. It is not a simple average of the states.

16 states have point estimates above the U.S. benchmark and 34 below it. These counts do not establish statistical significance.

How much should you read into a rank?

Each estimate has a 90% margin of error published by the Census Bureau. For two different states, we flag a difference only when its absolute size exceeds the square root of the sum of their squared margins of error. The comparison tool applies this check to every selected pair.

Non-significance is not proof of equality. These pairwise tests are not adjusted for multiple comparisons and do not form ranking confidence intervals. Statistical method and limitations.

Ranks use the full precision of the source file, so only truly equal values share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4).

Keep exploring

Why prices, housing spending and burden produce different state orders.

Explore the same states in a side-by-side comparison, or combine this measure with others in the custom ranking tool.

Source and method

Producer: U.S. Census Bureau
Product / file: ACS 1-year · GCT2515
Period: 2024
Unit: Percent
Calculation: Published estimate; no transformation of the value. Rank = 1 + number of eligible jurisdictions with a higher value.
Coverage: The 50 states are ranked. Washington, D.C., can be added with the toggle above the table; Puerto Rico is shown for reference only, where the source covers it.
Cadence: Annual. 2025 ACS 1-year estimates scheduled for October 29, 2026 (Census ACS updates page); adoption follows editorial review.
Independence: Rank the States is independent. The agencies that produce the source data do not endorse these rankings.

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Download the default full table (CSV) or use the download above for the table’s current filter and order. Data dictionary and source metadata

Suggested citation

Rank the States. Renter housing cost burden, 2024. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 1-year, GCT2515; released 2025-09-11. Edition 2026-10-23. https://rankthestates.com/data/editions/2026-10-23/renter-cost-burden.csv

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Updates and corrections

Last updated Oct. 23, 2026. Earlier editions stay available on the data page, and every change is listed in the update log. If a number or definition looks wrong, report an error with the state, value, and source you checked.

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