Overview
- WalletHub, which released its analysis Wednesday, combined mortgage or rent with home energy costs and compared the totals with each state’s median household income to rank housing burdens.
- Hawaii tops both lists, with homeowners spending 50.02% of income on housing and renters spending 62.52%.
- California ranks second for homeowners at 43%, and Massachusetts places third at 33.67% with the nation’s second-highest energy costs and third-highest mortgage payments.
- Lower burdens cluster in the Midwest, with Iowa lowest for homeowners at 17.26% and Oklahoma lowest for renters at 20.29%.
- Researchers tie the squeeze to years of price gains and recent interest-rate swings, as Harvard reports renter cost burdens hit a record high in 2024.