From median home values doubling in a decade to record rent-cost-burden rates, the Census Bureau's ACS data paints a vivid picture of housing stress across America.
The housing affordability crisis is the defining economic story of the 2020s. But how bad is it, really — and where? The US Census Bureau's American Community Survey tracks housing costs, incomes, and cost burden annually for every corner of the country. Here's what the data shows.
The national median home value crossed $300,000 for the first time in the 2021 ACS and reached $330,000 in the 2023 estimates. That's a 45% increase in just four years, far outpacing wage growth. The state home value rankings show extreme variation: Hawaii ($839,000) and California ($659,000) top the list, while West Virginia ($130,000) and Mississippi ($157,000) anchor the bottom.
The Census measures "cost burden" as spending 30% or more of income on housing — and "severe cost burden" at 50% or more. In the 2023 ACS, roughly 49% of renter households nationwide were cost-burdened. Severe burden affected about 24% of renters. These figures are national averages — in high-cost metros like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, cost burden rates approach 60%.
Use the rent rankings by city to see where monthly median rents are highest and lowest. For state-level patterns, the state rent rankings show the national spread.
The national homeownership rate sits at about 65.4% in the 2023 ACS — roughly the same as it was in the late 1960s. But that hides significant generational divergence: ownership rates for households under 35 have dropped to around 38%, while rates for those 65+ remain above 79%. The homeownership rankings by state show that Midwestern states consistently lead (West Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan) while coastal states and DC trail.
Vacancy data is one of the most underappreciated ACS variables. A healthy rental market typically has a 5–7% vacancy rate. Markets below 3% face extreme scarcity and tend to see rapid rent appreciation. Miami, Boston, and Denver have vacancy rates below 3%; markets in the rural South and Midwest can exceed 20%, reflecting population loss and housing overstock.
At the county level, housing stress is severe across most California coastal counties, the Mountain West boomtowns (Eagle County, CO; Teton County, WY), and resort communities in Florida and Hawaii. Browse county profiles to see housing cost burden, median rent, and median home values side by side for any county in America. For cities specifically, the city profiles show ACS housing data for all 30,000+ Census-defined places.
ACS housing data has real limits. It reflects median values across an entire geography — a city or county may have a bimodal distribution with very expensive and very inexpensive units. New construction isn't captured until the following survey. And the ACS measures cost burden relative to current income, not wealth — a cost-burdened household isn't necessarily at risk of displacement if they have significant assets.
Nonetheless, no other data source provides this breadth and geography of housing information. Explore it using the tools on CensusDepth — compare states, track trends over time, or drill all the way down to a specific ZIP code.
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