More than 12 million Americans are spending at least half their entire paycheck on rent, Harvard study says

• Over 12 million Americans spent more than half their income on rent and utilities in 2022, a Harvard study says.
• The study, by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, found a sharp rise in people spending large portions of their pay on rent.

An estimated 12.1 million Americans are spending more than half their income on rent and utilities, a study from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies says.

Based on estimates from the US Census Bureau, the study reports this is more people than at any other time for which data is available.

With 1.5 million more people since 2019 spending that proportion of their income on housing, the researchers say the increase was "fueled by rapidly rising rents during the pandemic."

It defines spending over 50% on rent and utilities as a "severely cost-burdened household," while those who spend at least 30% of their income are considered to be cost-burdened.

Between 2014 and 2019, the number of renters defined as cost-burdened, but not "severely" cost-burdened dropped by an estimated 883,000, to around 20.4 million, but the figure has risen sharply amid the COVID pandemic, with 22.4 million renters now considered cost-burdened.

7.6 million more people are cost-burdened than in 2001, the earliest year cited by the Joint Center for Housing Studies, the research shows.

Cea Weaver, a Housing Justice for All campaign coordinator, told The New York Times: "It's definitely worse than it's ever been. Middle-class people, lower-middle-class people, working-class people, they cannot afford their rent."

"Such tight budgets force financially vulnerable renters to make dreadful choices," the survey says, noting that those who are severely cost-burdened spend significantly less of their income on food and healthcare than their unburdened counterparts.

"Others may end up living in overcrowded or structurally inadequate conditions, threatening their health and well-being," the survey adds.

Of those who earn between $30,000 to $44,999 a year, the study found two-thirds were cost-burdened in 2022 — an increase of 15.1 percentage points from 2001.

Also since 2001, nearly twice as many households with incomes of $45,000 to $74,999 are burdened, to the tune of 41%, the study says.

"The number of renters living in unaffordable housing has reached an all-time high and includes households across the income spectrum and around the country," the researchers wrote.

"The growing shortage of units affordable to renters with the lowest incomes is only worsening the affordability crisis."

Are you a renter who spends a significant portion of your income on rent who would like to share your story? Get in touch with this reporter at psyme@businessinsider.com.