Posted on 12/09/2025 9:21:03 PM PST by SeekAndFind
About one in three U.S. households rents, a ratio that has stayed surprisingly steady over the past six decades.
But with mortgage rates soaring from 2.7% in 2020 to almost 7% today - and home prices continuing to climb - the share of renters has edged up.
Today, it takes $121,400 to afford a typical home, or 43% higher than the average salary.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the share of Americans renting versus owning by state, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
As the table below shows, states with the highest share of renters are found in states with high costs of living, led by Washington, D.C. and New York.
Despite residents of Washington, D.C. having the highest average hourly wages nationally— reaching $51.30 in real terms—the number of renters far surpasses that of homeowners.
As a result of limited housing supply, it has one of the most competitive rental markets in the country. High home prices, and an influx of out-of-state residents, notably New York City and Boston, are further putting strain on renters.
Meanwhile, 45.7% of people in New York rent, ranking in second. In the Big Apple, the average monthly rent is $4,100 for a one-bedroom apartment in 2025, rising 22% in the past five years.
California (44.2%), Nevada (39.9%), and North Dakota (38.8%) round out the top five states by share of renters.
In contrast, West Virginia has the smallest share of renters across states, at just 24.5%. Supporting home ownership is its affordability, with the median home sale price standing at $225,506 in Q2 2025, significantly lower than the national median of $410,800.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on rent prices in America by state.
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Looking at the top of the chart makes me see DemocRAT.
North Dakota must be all frackers.
Now that 2 million illegals have left the U.S. I wonder if any metro area is starting to see rent prices come down yet? I’m afraid they’ll have to deport millions more before any real impact will be seen.
Mean=32.95, median=33.5, std dev=5.637, std error of the mean at 95% confidence level=32.95 ±1.532 (±4.65%)
Taking out DC and PR, the mean=32.47, median=33.3, std dev=4.364, SEM at 95% confidence level=32.472 ±1.21 (±3.73%)
vlad, why would illegals have any impact on anything but low-end rental prices?
They aren’t renting the places in Manhattan etc. - they probably are living 5 to a room somewhere in New Jersey, right?
If the taxpayers are paying the rent for the... okay, let’s call them ‘less fortunate’, does that make every taxpayer a renter as well?
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