This document shares the sources and methods for our state-level eviction risk fact sheets produced in 2020. For local-level analyses produced in 2020, please see the notes at the end of the individual fact sheets for a link to the methodology. For sources used in analyses produced in 2021, please refer to this document.

Count and share of renter households with a rent shortfall and at risk of eviction; tenants with no or slight confidence in ability to pay next month's rent by race/ethnicity: These data points are from the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel/Stout eviction estimation tool, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey from the week of July 22 - July 29. The eviction risk estimate includes renters who say they have no or slight confidence in their ability to pay next month's rent and half of those who say they have moderate confidence in their ability to pay. It is adjusted to exclude households living in subsidized housing and may receive some relief or support. Note that NCCRC/Stout revised the eviction risk estimate in October 2020 to include renters who say they have no or slight confidence in their ability to pay next month's rent and a quarter of those who say they have moderate confidence in their ability to pay. Fact sheets produced after October 2020, such as California, use this revised definition.

Homeless population by race/ethnicity: Homeless population share by race/ethnicity from the HUD 2019 Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs point-in-time report and state population share from the 2018 5-Year American Community Survey (which represents a 2014-2018 average). We adjusted the homelessness data to create mutually exclusive racial/ethnic categories by assuming the non-Hispanic share of each racial group among those experiencing homelessness is the same as the non-Hispanic share of each racial group among the overall population.

Annual eviction filings: Eviction Lab, number of formal evictions filed in 2016. The eviction rate is defined as the share of renter households that received an eviction judgment in which renters were ordered to leave. Learn more about Eviction Lab data and undercounting of evictions for specific states. California data is from Tenants Together, annual average of total unlawful detainer filings (formal eviction filings) in California in 2014, 2015, and 2016 from the report, California Evictions are Fast and Frequent.

Rent burdens (total and economically insecure renters by race and gender): PolicyLink/ERI analysis of 2018 5-Year American Community Survey Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Rent-burdened is defined as spending more than 30 percent of income on housing costs. Data for 2018 represents a 2014-2018 average. Household income is based on the year prior to the survey while housing costs are based on the survey year. Data by race and gender are determined by the race and gender of the household head and are only reported if the sample size is sufficient. Economic insecurity is defined as below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $50,000 for a family of four with two children. Latinos include people of Hispanic origin of any race and all other groups exclude people of Hispanic origin.

Renter savings: According to a national analysis of 2015 Panel Study of Income Dynamics data by Pew Research, renters who were rent-burdened (paying more than 30 percent of income on rent) had an average of $10 in savings and renters who were not rent-burdened had an average of $1,000 in savings.