Why This Measure Matters

Households are considered stably housed and better equipped to pay for other costs of living like food, transportation, medical care, and education, and are better able to save for retirement and support the local economy when their housing related costs are no more than 30% of their annual gross income. Households which pay more than 30% of their income on housing are housing cost-burdened and those which pay more than 50% of their income on housing are severely housing cost-burdened. Seeing the number of housing cost burdened homeowner households decreasing is a measure of whether our housing-related policy actions are successful.

What’s the Story?

The 2023 American Community Survey gives us the most up-to-date account of the number of Olympia households who own their home and are housing cost burdened. There are 12,408 Olympia households who own their home. Of those, 2,589 households (nearly 21%) are housing cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their annual gross income on housing related costs. 

This measure tells us that nearly a fifth of Olympia's homeowner households are housing cost burdened. When comparing this data to housing cost burdened Olympia renter households (nearly 57%) it also tells us that homeownership offers a pathway to stable housing.

Target

We want to see this number go down over time.

Reporting frequency