{"id":35264,"date":"2025-02-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?p=35264"},"modified":"2025-02-13T10:06:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:06:27","slug":"us-mortgage-income-burden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/us-mortgage-income-burden\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Homeowners: How Much of Your Income Goes to Your Mortgage?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Standard financial advice stipulates that spending more than 30% of your income on housing can put you at risk of being cost-burdened<\/a>. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)<\/a> further defines affordable housing as one in which a household spends less than this percentage. But how realistic is that metric for median-income earners? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When other essential costs like groceries, childcare, and transportation increase, many households become financially strained. Exceeding the 30% threshold becomes unavoidable for some, particularly as wage growth doesn\u2019t keep pace<\/a> with increasing mortgage payments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoocasa analyzed average mortgage payments across 75 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. to determine which cities’ median household incomes comfortably cover housing expenses and where households are more likely to be cost-burdened.<\/p>\n\n\n