According to recent data from NYC (pretty expensive example but still) the rent-to-income ratio (median yearly rent / median yearly income) is ~55% citywide but up to 80% in the Bronx (which has the lowest income of the 5 boroughs)
Edit for clarity: the median income number is also per “household” (I’m assuming per apartment in this case), so it accounts for multiple working people living together
That 55% figure has been true of New York for decades. The ubiquity of public transit has historically offset the costs: since people aren’t making car payments, the portion of their income that would go to that gets spread across other spending.
I would be more interested to see figures in more car-oriented areas for a better apples-to-apples.
In the 2010’s it was down to 3x. Are the kids being asked to pay more than half their income for rent?
According to recent data from NYC (pretty expensive example but still) the rent-to-income ratio (median yearly rent / median yearly income) is ~55% citywide but up to 80% in the Bronx (which has the lowest income of the 5 boroughs)
https://www.realtor.com/research/nyc-q2-2025-rent/
Edit for clarity: the median income number is also per “household” (I’m assuming per apartment in this case), so it accounts for multiple working people living together
That 55% figure has been true of New York for decades. The ubiquity of public transit has historically offset the costs: since people aren’t making car payments, the portion of their income that would go to that gets spread across other spending.
I would be more interested to see figures in more car-oriented areas for a better apples-to-apples.