Benchmark
Renting in America Has Never Been This Expensive
Los Angeles residents are now spending half their income on rent
New homes stand next to shopping centers and apartments under construction at the Playa Vista community development in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Monday, June 29, 2015.
Photographer: Patrick T. FallonThis article is for subscribers only.
Americans living in rentals spent almost a third of their incomes on housing in the second quarter, the highest share in recent history.
Rental affordability has steadily worsened, according to a new report from Zillow, which tracked data going back to 1979. A renter making the median income in the U.S. spent 30.2 percent of her income on a median-priced apartment in the second quarter, compared with 29.5 percent a year earlier. The long-term average, from 1985 to 1999, was 24.4 percent.