Missouri Households Struggle to Afford Rent, Mortgage Payments

Despite the national prosperity of the 1990s, about 33% of renters and 16% of homeowners in Missouri lacked affordable housing during 1999-2000.  Since 1990 the housing burden of renters has declined slightly for the state overall, but the housing burden for homeowners has increased from 10 percent to 16 percent. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers housing "affordable" if total expenses (rent or mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, utilities, and other related payments) account for less than 30 percent of total household income. Paying 30 percent or more of income on housing may leave insufficient resources to cover other basic expenses, including food and health care costs. This analysis uses a 35 percent cutoff to indicate a lack of affordable housing.

According to results from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, a special nationwide survey that the Census Bureau conducted last year, many Missourians lacked affordable housing during the 12 months prior to the survey.

Not surprisingly, housing costs were a bigger problem for renters than for homeowners (mainly because renters tend to have lower incomes). Among renters, 33 percent lacked affordable housing during 1999-2000.  By contrast, among Missouri home owners, just 16 percent lacked affordable housing.

Variations by County (for all county reports go here)