Contract rent plus utilities and fuels you pay separately, if any. That is how the Census counts gross rent. Contract rent alone will understate your share.
Gross income of everyone in the household over the past 12 months, before tax.
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How the numbers work
Your share. Rent burden = (monthly gross rent × 12) ÷ annual household income. Gross rent is contract rent plus utilities and fuels (electricity, gas, water/sewer, oil, coal, kerosene, wood) the renter pays. Income is gross household income in the past 12 months, before tax. The Census calls this gross rent as a percentage of household income (GRAPI).
The 30% and 50% lines. A household spending 30% or more of income on rent is cost-burdened; 50% or more is severely cost-burdened. These are the long-standing HUD guideline thresholds. They are rules of thumb, not a verdict on any household: a high share can reflect low income, high rent, or both, and a low share does not by itself mean housing is affordable in every other way.
What you are ranked against. Renter-occupied housing units in the chosen area, from Census table B25070, split into nine brackets: under 10%, 10–14.9%, 15–19.9%, 20–24.9%, 25–29.9%, 30–34.9%, 35–39.9%, 40–49.9%, and 50% or more. Households whose ratio could not be computed (no cash rent, or no/negative income) are counted separately and excluded from every share on this page; their count is shown so the denominator is visible. The national and area medians are table B25071 (median gross rent as a percentage of household income, cash-rent units only). Median gross rent is B25064; median renter household income is B25119 (renter-occupied). The all-household median income (B19013) is deliberately not used.
Exact shares vs. estimates. The share of renters in a lower bracket, in a higher bracket, and at/above 30% or 50% are computed directly from the published bracket counts — no guessing. The single “Top XX% most burdened” figure is an estimate: inside your 5-point bracket it assumes renters spread evenly across the bracket, the same straight-line idea used between published percentiles on the pay site. It is labeled as an estimate wherever it appears. In the open-ended 50%-or-more bracket no within-bracket estimate is made; the page gives the exact range instead.
Not published. Where the Census could not compute a median (too few sample cases, or the median falls in an open-ended interval) the value is shown as Not published and never estimated or filled in. The same applies to a ZIP area with no computed renter households: its distribution is Not published, and only the national comparison is shown. Small areas are survey estimates with large margins of error; the household count behind each area is shown so you can judge how thin it is.
Coverage and limits. American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, released January 29, 2026, in 2024 dollars. A 5-year estimate pools five years of survey responses; it is not a snapshot of this month, and rents have moved since. The 5-year vintage is used because it is the only one published for counties, metro/micro areas, and ZIP areas of all sizes; the 1-year release covers only areas of 65,000+ people. ZIP areas are Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), which follow postal ZIP codes only approximately and can cross county and metro lines — that is why a ZIP area is compared nationally here, and states/metros are separate pickers. Medians describe groups of renters, not any one household. Not financial advice.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, tables B25070, B25071, B25064, and B25119, table-based Summary File (downloaded from www2.census.gov, no API key). Geography names: 2024 Census Gazetteers. Data are baked into this page; no inputs are sent anywhere.