Housing considered affordable if 30 percent or less of income

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Housing considered affordable if 30 percent or less of income

A 30 percent rent-to-income (RTI) ratio is a standard used nationally to define housing affordability. Based on this standard, households can afford to spend up to 30 percent of their income from all sources (wages or salaries, government benefits, retirement income, or other payments) on gross rent (contract rent plus utilities) and still cover other expenses. Those spending over 30 percent are considered “rent burdened.”

This information is a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education.

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