docs/us_housing/housing_cost_burden_county_year

housing_cost_burden_county_year

County-year grain. ACS B25070 renter cost burden bands and derived share metrics. Universe: renter households with cash rent and positive income.

tier —sample_estimatehousingacscost_burdenrent_burdenrenteraffordability
grain
county-year
years
2024
cadence
Annual
overview

overview

All 3,222 counties. ACS B25070 universe is renter households with cash rent and positive income.

current vintage — 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year

history — ACS B25070: 2009-present

provenance

source & licensing

authority
U.S. Census Bureau
dataset
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
license
citation
U.S. Census Bureau. ACS 5-Year Estimates, Table B25070 (renter cost burden), 2020-2024.
schema

fields

nametypedefinition
_ingested_attimestampTimestamp when this record was written to BigQuery.Pipeline metadata field.
_ingestor_versionstringVersion of the ingestor script that produced this record.Pipeline metadata field.
_reliability_tierstringData quality tier (A/B/C) assigned at ingestion.Pipeline metadata field.
_source_dataset_idstringInternal dataset identifier linking to meta.datasets.Pipeline metadata field.
country_idstringISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables).
county_idkeystring5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id.
county_namestringHuman-readable county name corresponding to county_id.
owner_mortgaged_30_34int64 · householdsNumber of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 30–34% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities). These households are cost burdened at the lowest severity band.
owner_mortgaged_35_39int64 · householdsNumber of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 35–39% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs, representing a moderate level of cost burden.
owner_mortgaged_40_49int64 · householdsNumber of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 40–49% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs, representing a high level of cost burden.
owner_mortgaged_50_plusint64 · householdsNumber of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 50% or more of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs. These households are classified as severely cost burdened.
owner_mortgaged_universeint64 · householdsTotal number of owner-occupied households with a mortgage included in the cost burden universe (i.e., those with non-zero, non-negative selected monthly owner costs and household income). Denominator for mortgaged-owner cost burden rates.
owner_no_mortgage_30_34int64 · householdsNumber of non-mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 30–34% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs (taxes, insurance, utilities). These households are cost burdened at the lowest severity band.
owner_no_mortgage_35_39int64 · householdsNumber of non-mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 35–39% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs, representing a moderate level of cost burden.
owner_no_mortgage_40_49int64 · householdsNumber of non-mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 40–49% of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs, representing a high level of cost burden.
owner_no_mortgage_50_plusint64 · householdsNumber of non-mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 50% or more of gross household income on selected monthly owner costs. These households are classified as severely cost burdened.
owner_no_mortgage_universeint64 · householdsTotal number of owner-occupied households without a mortgage included in the cost burden universe. Denominator for non-mortgaged owner cost burden rates.
pct_owners_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of all owner-occupied households (mortgaged and non-mortgaged combined) spending 30% or more of gross income on selected monthly owner costs. Higher values indicate greater housing affordability stress among homeowners.
pct_owners_mortgaged_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 30% or more of gross income on selected monthly owner costs (i.e., sum of owner_mortgaged_30_34 through owner_mortgaged_50_plus divided by owner_mortgaged_universe). Higher values indicate greater affordability strain among homeowners carrying a mortgage.
pct_owners_mortgaged_severely_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of mortgaged owner-occupied households spending 50% or more of gross income on selected monthly owner costs (i.e., owner_mortgaged_50_plus divided by owner_mortgaged_universe). Higher values indicate acute housing unaffordability concentrated among mortgaged homeowners.
pct_owners_severely_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of all owner-occupied households (mortgaged and non-mortgaged combined) spending 50% or more of gross income on selected monthly owner costs. Higher values indicate more acute housing unaffordability among homeowners.
pct_renters_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of renter households in the universe spending 30% or more of gross income on gross rent (i.e., renter_cb_30_34 + renter_cb_35_39 + renter_cb_40_49 + renter_cb_50_plus divided by renter_cb_universe). Higher values indicate greater housing affordability stress among renters.
pct_renters_severely_cost_burdenedfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of renter households in the universe spending 50% or more of gross income on gross rent (i.e., renter_cb_50_plus divided by renter_cb_universe). Higher values indicate more acute housing unaffordability among renters.
renter_cb_30_34int64 · householdsNumber of renter-occupied households spending 30–34% of gross household income on gross rent. These households meet the threshold for cost burden but fall in its lowest severity band.
renter_cb_35_39int64 · householdsNumber of renter-occupied households spending 35–39% of gross household income on gross rent, representing a moderate level of cost burden.
renter_cb_40_49int64 · householdsNumber of renter-occupied households spending 40–49% of gross household income on gross rent, representing a high level of cost burden approaching severe.
renter_cb_50_plusint64 · householdsNumber of renter-occupied households spending 50% or more of gross household income on gross rent. These households are classified as severely cost burdened.
renter_cb_universeint64 · householdsTotal number of renter-occupied households included in the cost burden universe (i.e., those with non-zero, non-negative gross rent and household income). This is the denominator for renter cost burden rates.
state_idstring2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id.
yearkeyint64Reference year of the observation.
relationships

joins

primary key
county_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on county_id
housing_affordability_county_year on (county_id, year)
housing_tenure_county_year on (county_id, year)
usage

how to use this table

method

ACS B25070 reports renter households by gross-rent-as-percentage-of-income bands. Cost-burdened = >30%; severely cost-burdened = >50%.

do not use for

Owner cost burden (use B25091); zero-income or no-cash-rent renters (excluded from universe); mortgage-only burden.

known issues

Universe excludes zero-income and no-cash-rent renters - both groups skew to high-vulnerability populations, so this systematically undercounts burden.

last updated · May 5, 2026