Housing Affordability Atlas

The atlas layers median gross rent as a share of area median income against housing policy responses—such as inclusionary zoning or rental assistance expansion—using Census Bureau American Community Survey and HUD administrative data. It reveals where cost burdens exceed 30% or 50% thresholds and connects those levels to specific policy levers deployed in each jurisdiction. The data reflects geography-specific affordability pressures not visible in national averages.

Urban planners use this to benchmark local conditions against peer regions and assess how policy timing aligns with shifts in housing costs. The mapping includes controls for household size composition and household income distribution to avoid misrepresenting affordability across household types. Changes from year to year show whether policy impacts are detectable in median affordability metrics over time.

Each chart includes data source citations and flags where imputation was used for missing income or rent values in the ACS. Users can filter by urbanicity, region, or population size class to isolate meaningful regional patterns. The guide explains how HUD income limits and Census income boundaries are harmonized for cross-year consistency and comparability.