15 U.S. Cities With the Highest Income Limits for Affordable Housing

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Construction Coverage.

As the U.S. begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and work towards economic recovery, one of the major economic issues to watch in the months and years ahead is housing.

The pandemic has in some ways increased economic inequality, and trends in housing show it. Many high earners are using favorable mortgage interest rates and record household savings during the pandemic to buy from unusually low inventories of homes, creating fierce competition among buyers and driving home prices higher.

Meanwhile, low-income workers have relied on government stimulus, rent assistance programs, and eviction moratoriums for nearly a year and a half just to keep a roof over their heads — and many of those programs are running out over the next few months. According to data from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 24 million low-income renters pay more than half of their income for housing.

What constitutes affordable housing also often depends where one lives, which is why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development bases income limits for its housing assistance programs on local market conditions. In some areas, housing costs are so high that HUD’s definition of “low income” for a family of four is over six figures.

To find these locations, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed the latest data from the HUD’s Section 8 Income Limits and Fair Market Rents datasets.

Here are the large U.S. metropolitan areas (population 1 million or more) with the highest income limits to qualify for affordable housing.

15. Newark, NJ

Low-income limit (1-person): $55,950

Low-income limit (4-person family): $79,900

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,358

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,643

Median family income: $107,400

14. Monmouth-Ocean, NJ

Low-income limit (1-person): $55,950

Low-income limit (4-person family): $79,900

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,291

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,652

Median family income: $108,900

13. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ

Low-income limit (1-person): $57,250

Low-income limit (4-person family): $81,750

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,371

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,753

Median family income: $123,200

12. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD

Low-income limit (1-person): $57,650

Low-income limit (4-person family): $82,300

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,548

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,765

Median family income: $129,000

11. Bergen-Passaic, NJ

Low-income limit (1-person): $57,700

Low-income limit (4-person family): $82,400

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,503

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,768

Median family income: $113,200

10. Seattle-Bellevue, WA

Low-income limit (1-person): $63,350

Low-income limit (4-person family): $90,500

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,599

2-bedroom fair market rent: $1,906

Median family income: $115,700

9. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $66,250

Low-income limit (4-person family): $94,600

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,605

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,058

Median family income: $80,000

8. Nassau-Suffolk, NY

Low-income limit (1-person): $66,450

Low-income limit (4-person family): $94,900

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,659

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,035

Median family income: $129,900

7. New York, NY

Low-income limit (1-person): $66,850

Low-income limit (4-person family): $95,450

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,801

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,053

Median family income: $81,700

6. San Diego-Carlsbad, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $67,900

Low-income limit (4-person family): $97,000

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,642

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,124

Median family income: $95,100

5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH

Low-income limit (1-person): $70,750

Low-income limit (4-person family): $101,050

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,924

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,336

Median family income: $120,800

4. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $75,300

Low-income limit (4-person family): $107,550

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,888

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,331

Median family income: $106,700

3. Oakland-Fremont, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $76,750

Low-income limit (4-person family): $109,600

1-bedroom fair market rent: $1,934

2-bedroom fair market rent: $2,383

Median family income: $125,600

2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $82,450

Low-income limit (4-person family): $117,750

1-bedroom fair market rent: $2,558

2-bedroom fair market rent: $3,051

Median family income: $151,300

1. San Francisco, CA

Low-income limit (1-person): $102,450

Low-income limit (4-person family): $146,350

1-bedroom fair market rent: $2,923

2-bedroom fair market rent: $3,553

Median family income: $149,600

Detailed Findings & Methodology

To find the U.S. locations with the highest income limits for affordable housing, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed the latest data from the The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 8 Income Limits and Fair Market Rents datasets.

Metropolitan areas were ranked according to the low-income limit for one-person households, which is typically set at 80% of median income in an area. In the event of a tie, the metro with the higher median four-person family income was ranked higher.

Researchers also included low-income limits for four-person family households, as well as one- and two-bedroom fair market rents, and the median family income of each location.

To improve relevance, only metros with at least 100,000 residents were included in the analysis.

Metros were also grouped into the following cohorts based on population size: small (100,000–349,999); midsize (350,000–999,999); and large (1 million or more). State and national data was calculated as a population-weighted average of the county-level data.