• Since 2000, the share of renters who are rent burdened nationwide has increased from 40 percent to 50 percent in 2020. The share of renters who are severely burdened increased from one in five to one in four over the same period. 
• At least half of renters are currently rent burdened in 57 of the 100 largest cities in the US. 
• Black and Latinx women renters are most likely to be rent burdened among all other race and gender groups identified by the census. 
• Florida, Hawaii, and Louisiana have the highest shares of rent-burdened renters while North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska have the lowest. 
• Because rent burdens are a function of costs and income, some high-cost cities that have experienced gentrification (like San Francisco) have a relatively lower share of rent-burdened residents and some lower-cost cities with large low-income populations (like Stockton) have high shares of rent-burdened residents.
• The share of homeowners who are cost-burdened has declined since 2010 (from 30 to 22 percent), partly because the foreclosure crisis turned many homeowners into renters. Black and Latinx homeowners are still the most likely to be cost-burdened of all racial and ethnic groups identified by the census.

Lack of affordable housing production coupled with skyrocketing housing prices and stagnant wages for low-wage workers has caused the housing burden for poor Americans, particularly low-income renters, to increase following the recovery from the 2008 crisis. People of color are over-represented in these populations; this is due in part to a long history of racial segregation forged through practices such as racially restrictive housing covenants, redlining, and discriminatory lending. People of color are also more likely to rent than own a home because historical dispossession and discrimination have prevented accumulation of wealth and upward mobility.

• Raise funds to increase the supply of affordable homes through housing trust funds and housing bonds.
• Require or incentivize the inclusion of affordable housing within new developments using inclusionary zoning, community benefits agreements, density bonuses, or other tools.
• Preserve affordable rental housing, particularly apartments located near job centers, public transit, and services.
• Ensure strong tenant protections to prevent displacement, such as just cause eviction ordinances, anti-harassment policies, low-cost legal assistance, and rent control
• Implement a renters' tax credit to help reduce rents for low-income families.
• At the federal level, create a rental subsidy program for rent-burdened tenants, enforce and expand the Fair Housing Act to ensure fair housing, expand the national Housing Trust Fund to increase investment in affordable housing production.

• Reports: Housing Policy Guide; Racial Disparities Among Extremely Low-Income Renters; Who Has Housing Affordability Problems? Disparities in Housing Cost burden by Race, Nativity and Legal Status in Los Angeles
• Data: Out of Reach; Paycheck to Paycheck; Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America 
• Toolkits: #OurNeighborhoods