In recent years, rising rental costs have pushed affordability further out of reach for many renters across the U.S., making finding a home for under $1,000 increasingly difficult. In fact, half of all renters<\/a> now pay more than 30% of their income toward rent, underscoring the gap between market rates and wages<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, New Orleans, LA<\/a> bucks this trend; 27.2% of apartments on the market are listed for under $1,000. The nationwide average is 7.5%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s happening in the rental market? Why does New Orleans have a growing share of rentals for under $1,000 per month? Let\u2019s dive in to find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New Orleans has the highest share of rental listings below $1,000 in the country, at 27.2%<\/strong> \u2013 a 6.8 percentage point (ppts) increase from last year. New Orleans has so many $1,000 rentals largely because of its low asking rent, which currently sits at $1,219. The nationwide median asking rent is $1,634. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Big Easy has actually seen rents drop in the past year<\/a>, largely due to a surge of new apartments hitting the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, even though rents are among the lowest in the nation, a very high percentage (28%<\/a>) of renters live in poverty, and two-thirds<\/a> are low-income. It\u2019s no wonder that around half<\/a> of the population is cost-burdened (spend more than 30% of income on housing), and over a third<\/a> of renters are severely cost burdened (spend more than 50% of income on housing). Communities of color are disproportionately affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent climate-related insurance crisis<\/a> has only compounded the housing crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, low-income renters using Housing Choice Vouchers (aka Section 8) will have an especially-hard time finding a rental. Nearly 70%<\/a> of landlords denied applications from qualified applicants late last year, and most qualifying units are located in high poverty areas. New Orleans needs 47,000 more affordable units to meet demand, but in the 12 months ending August 2023, it built just 97<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though nearly a quarter of listings<\/em> are on the market for under $1,000, far more (63.5%) renters pay<\/em> less than $1,000 per month. This share is tied to the apartment unit and not an individual renter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A much higher share of renters pay less than $1,000 per month because many signed leases long ago when rents were much lower. This share has actually increased in the past decade, from 60.3% in 2012 to 63.5% today. New Orleans is the only metro that has seen an improvement here among those analyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nationwide, 7.5% of listings on the market cost less than $1,000<\/strong>. This is a 0.1 ppts increase from the same time last year, but well below the 10% share in September 2019. Why are $1,000 rentals becoming less common?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The primary reason is because rents have increased dramatically. Rents skyrocketed<\/a> during the pandemic because of a moving frenzy, housing boom, and lack of new construction. They reached a record high of $1,700 in August 2022, with some metros seeing $700 increases over only a few months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rents have since stopped rising and even declined in a few places<\/a> over the past few months, but are still up nearly 21% from before the pandemic. This has massively strained lower-income renters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nationwide, 32.1% of renter households pay under $1,000 in monthly rent. This far outweighs the share of $1,000 listings, but is the lowest share on record. In comparison, 37% of renters paid less than $1,000 in 2022, and in 2012, the share was 50.4%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This gap exists largely because many renters signed their leases years ago when housing was more affordable. Many of these renters are also staying put because they can\u2019t afford<\/a> the typical apartment on the market today. Property owners do often raise rents for existing tenants, but these increases are usually smaller than the increases they apply when seeking a new tenant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Renters who are paying less than $1,000 a month are also more likely to have lived in their apartment for five years or longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn New Orleans, more than a quarter of rentals are listed for under $1,000 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What share of renters in New Orleans actually pay less than $1,000\/month?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The share of $1,000 rentals has declined nationwide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How many renters nationwide pay less than $1,000\/month? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n