Median Renter Income
Median household income among households living in renter-occupied units.
The median annual household income of households living in renter-occupied housing units.
The Census Bureau counts household income as the income of everyone in the household, not only the person who signed the lease: "This includes the income of the householder and all other individuals 15 years old and over in the household, whether they are related to the householder or not" (ACS Subject Definitions). Income covers the twelve months preceding the interview, while household composition refers to the time of interview. The Bureau adjusts dollar amounts collected across a multi-year sample to a common year using the Consumer Price Index before tabulating them.
This is the same income concept as median household income, restricted to the renter-occupied part of the tract. The two can differ substantially in places where owners and renters are different populations. Renter income is the income figure that corresponds to rent and rent burden, both of which describe renter households only.
Metrics in this family#
Median renter income
The current median household income among renter-occupied units, taken from the most recent ACS 5-year vintage.
Renter-income trend
Change in that median over 3, 5, or 10 years, selectable in the tool.
Because renter income is a dollar amount rather than a rate, its trend is reported as a percentage change. The comparison is between published estimates of different vintages, each expressed in its own vintage's dollars, so part of any increase reflects general price inflation rather than a gain in purchasing power.
Considerations#
A median is not an average and does not describe the spread. Two tracts with the same median renter income can have very different distributions above and below it.
The Census Bureau does not publish a median renter income for every tract, and this measure is absent more often than most ACS housing measures. Tracts with few renter-occupied households are the usual case, and where a value is published for such a tract it carries a wide margin of error.
ACS 5-year windows overlap. Each vintage shares four of its five years with the vintage before it, so year-over-year movement reflects smoothed rolling estimates rather than independent annual readings, and turning points appear later than they occurred.
Census tract boundaries were redrawn for the 2020 census. Estimates published on earlier boundaries are carried onto current ones before use, which bears most on the longer trend windows — see geography.
References#
- 1ACS Subject Definitionshttps://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2024_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf