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. Seeing the number of housing cost burdened 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 rent and are housing cost burdened. There are 12,738 Olympia households who rent. Of those, 7,244 households (nearly 57%) are housing cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their annual gross income on housing related costs. 

This measure tells us that more than half of Olympia renters are unstably housed and may be struggling to afford other living expenses such as food, medical care, transportation, and education.

Target

We want to see this number go down over time.