Renter Cost Burden ACS 2006-2010: Find Rates/Counts by Income for 400+ Oregon Counties and Places.

American Community Survey 5 year data for 2006-2010 was published last week, and I put together a new Excel workbook HERE that shows comparisons of renter cost burdens by income levels for more than 400 Oregon counties and places. 

Cost Burden Lookup Worksheet With Graphs

In far left column, users can select from pull down list up to 12 Oregon places or counties for side by side comparisons (they are organized in alpha order). By default the geographies chosen are all Oregon CDBG entitlement communities, but you can select geographies of choice. Selection of geographies is the ONLY interaction you need in order to see ALL the values in this worksheet (all other cells are protected to prevent against inadvertent data entry; you can however select and print the graphs).

The table of the left in this worksheet shows by income the percentage of renters in that income group who have cost burdens. The table on the right shows the number of renters by income group with cost burden AND the share of all renters with cost burdens with incomes below $35,000. 

Data for the geography selected for the first row also appears in the graph below, so if you want to graph a particular geography select it for the first row.

Data B25074 Worksheet

A second worksheet in the workbook includes all of the data I downloaded and used to construct the primary worksheet. (Table B25074 from the ACS). It does not include any of my calculations, just the raw data as I downloaded it from the American Fact Finder website. This worksheet is not copy protected.

Some Observations: 

1. The percentage of renters with cost burdens drops off dramatically as income increases. Using Clackamas County as an example, 81% of renters with incomes between $20,000 and $34,999 were cost burdened, but for renters with incomes between $50,000-$74,999 that rental cost burden rate drops to 12%: So, in Clackamas County, renter households with incomes between $20,000 and $34,999 were nearly 7 times as likely to be cost burdened as renters with incomes between $50,000 -$74,999.
2. Because of the significantly higher incidence of cost burden at lower income levels, the share of ALL cost burdened renters with incomes below incomes of $35,000  is very high. In Clackamas County, 83% of all cost burdened renters had incomes below $35,000.

Notes: 

• The Cost Burden Lookup worksheet only includes estimates; if you want to see margin of errors and counts of all renters look at the data worksheet. 
• I computed rent burden %'s by including only those renter households where rent burdens were shown. If I had included renters where cost burden had not been determined the rent burden percentages in each income category would have been lower. My method I believe more accurately reflects cost burden rates by limiting the universe of renters to those where cost burden data is known.
• As always, if you run into any data errors or discrepancies please do email me or leave a comment on this post.(I encourage you to cross check data in the Lookup worksheet with the Data worksheet).
• Excel Downloading Tip:This workbook was created in Excel 2007/2010 format. Some users report they cannot directly view Excel files in this format from within their browser and/or that Excel files they save end up with a compressed .zip file extension. My suggestion is to RIGHT CLICK and save the file to your PC. Then navigate to the file you downloaded and look at its file extension. IF it appears as .ZIP extension, change the .ZIP extension to an Excel 2007/2010 extension (.xlsx), and THEN open the file with Excel 2007/2010.
   Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Progress Board Committee Tuesday to Consider Changing Housing Affordability Standards.

The Oregon Progress Board is planning revisions to renter and home owner affordability measures and data sources. The planned revisions will be acted upon by the Assessment Committee at a meeting on Tuesday Sept 2nd. (If you want to listen in/participate in that Salem meeting that begins at 10 AM, the call in number is 1-877-475-9235 and the participant code is 219744).

My Comments on Renter Affordability Data Definition and Sources
I have sent my comments on the proposed renter affordability revised data standard to Progress Board staff HERE. My primary concerns

1. "Median state income" should be clarified to be "state median household income".
2. The state should include a worst case renter cost burden (50%+) measure.
3. A focus on renters below median state household income instead of renter median income will understate the rate at which lower income renters have costs burdens because "median household income" in Oregon was almost twice "median renter income".
4. It is not clear to me how the state will track renters below median state income as ACS does not to my knowledge have a table that shows rent burden using that definition of income.

New Goals:
Using the new data definition the proposed goal for renters would be revised to 60% of renters below median state household income paying no more than 30% of their income (down from 70% of renters below median renter income paying no more than 30% of their income).

In a new post tomorrow, I will provide information about a prior Assessment Committee decision to suspend the home ownership goal (which Oregon never came close to achieving).


The proposed renter affordability revised measure can be found HERE.
The proposed home ownership affordability revised measure can be found HERE.

06-05 HH Change: Props For Some Pops; For HH with Own Children Under 18 , Male Headed HH's Were Only HH Category to Increase.

I did a previous piece on 2005 Households types from the American Community Survey for Oregon HERE. I will do an 2006 update to the earlier piece which will include more data on tenure in a few days. (Note below however that there was an estimated 5,600 decline in Oregon renter HH's and the addition of 30,000+ homeowners from 2006-2005).

The table below provides a quick snapshot of ACS estimates of the 2006-2005 CHANGE in Oregon HH's, focused on households with their own children less than 18 years of age.

Select 2006-2005 Oregon Household Changes from ACS:

All Households INCREASED	+24,322
Renter Households DECREASED		(5, 688)
Homeowner Households INCREASED		+30,010
Households with Own Children Less than 18 INCREASED	+1,070
Married Couple Families with Own Children Less than 18 DECREASED		(-363)
Female Household Families with Own Children less than 18 DECREASED		(-1,555)
Male Household Families with Own Children less than 18 INCREASED		+2,988

Oregon Progress Board Renter Median HH Income Is 26% Below ACS Estimate for 2006, Invalidates OPB Rent Burden %'s

This is the first in a series of reviews of Oregon Progress Board Housing Benchmark Data and focuses on Renter Household Incomes and Rent Burdened Percentages.

Progress Board: The Oregon Progress Board [OPB] has changed the statement of this goal over time, invalidating comparisons to early periods. The now stated goal is that no more than 70% of renter households [HH's] below rental median income will pay more than 30% their income for rent. [See page 7 of 2007 Benchmark summary report HERE]

The Progress Board reports that the median rental household income for 2006 was $22.669 and that 82% of renters at that income level paid more than 30% of their income for rent in 2006. (You can confirm renter median income from OPB by generating a specific report HERE).

ACS 2006: The Census American Community Survey [ACS] estimates (Table B25119) that Oregon 2006 renter median household income was $28,582. (The 2005 ACS reported Oregon Renter Household Median Income estimate was $26,385, increasing to $27,236 in 2006 inflation adjusted dollars].

Analysis: OPB's estimated median renter household income for 2006 is $5,913 and 26.1% BELOW the 2006 ACS estimate and $1,346 and 4.9% BELOW the one year earlier inflation adjusted 2005 ACS renter household median estimate.

This wide variance in income directly impacts the accuracy of the rent burdened estimate, as rent burdens generally decrease as incomes increase. Higher ACS estimated renter median HH incomes would suggest that the percentage of below median rent burdened HH's was less than OPB reported.

[Note: ACS data available in the Fact Finder site does not directly provide rent burdens for median income renter HH's, so that no direct comparison can be made with OPB counts and percentages. Those with more skill , time, and software tools than I have MAY be able to calculate such a direct comparison using downloaded PUMS data and I encourage users to try that if they wish ].

Recommendation for Oregon Progress Board: Use ACS Data on Rent Burdens and Renter Median HH Income.

While I appreciate that there are differences in survey methods, including the size of sample and the period sampled, there is no way IMO that a difference of 26.1% in renter HH median income can be explained away by those variations.

OPB already selectively uses other ACS data. With ACS gradually expanding coverage to include smaller areas, if the Oregon Progress Board switched to using ACS data on rent burdens and median renter HH income:

• More valid year to year to year comparisons could be made.
• Some local geographies could be added to track this benchmark.
  
• Direct comparisons to other states could be made.
  

Moreover, OPB would be improve this benchmark to report not only above 30% , but also above 50% rent burdens, which disproportionately affect the lowest income Oregon renters.

ACS 2006 Analysis 1: Rent Burdened Percentage Increased in United States Last Year and In Last 4 Years, But Oregon's Percentage Decreased.

I have just completed my first review of data from the American Community Survey for 2006. The analysis is of estimates of the state percentage of renters paying 30% or more of their income for housing, often called “rent burdened” households.

From 2005-2006 the US percentage of renters paying 30% of income increased by .7% , while Oregon’s percentage decreased by 2.3%.

Looking at change over a longer period from 2003-2006, Oregon did even better, with the fourth largest state decrease of 3.7% vs. a nation increase of 6.5%

Oregon’s improvement to 47% or renters paying 30% or more of income for rent in 2006 still left Oregon above the national average of 46%. Our state ranking improved from the #1 [The Worst] ranking of 4 years ago to a still less than stellar # 11 state ranking in 2006.

NOTE: Idaho’s improvement in last year and last 4 years was BEST in the country, bringing their 2006 rent burdened percentage below 40%. Idaho now ranks as the 46^th rent burdened state compared to a state ranking of 17 just four years ago.

My detailed state data analysis and comparisons are HERE in this three page PDF document.

NON Married Couple Households Are Majority of Oregon Households: Of This Majority, More than Half are Renters.

I have posted the title above as the first posting on a new Oregon Housing Data Blog that I have created that will highlight new (or a new take on existing) Oregon housing data.

I will try to remember to post headlines from that blog here in the future. (However to insure that you see postings on the Oregon Housing Data blog, I would suggest that you subscribe separately. Easy to use boxes for doing so are at the top right of the blog at www.oregonhousingdata.blogspot.com ).