The Rent is Too Darn High in Charleston County

Overview

More than half of renters in Charleston County are housing cost burdened. To put it another way, the rent is too darn high for most residents. So what does being housing cost burdened mean? A household is housing cost burdened when it spends more than 30 percent of their income on rent. For many residents, this means that most of their pay immediately goes to housing. Whatever income is left over, is then used to cover groceries, transportation, child care (that’s a blog for another day), health care (also a blog for another day), savings (yeah..also a blog for another day), and other expenses.

Residents with Lower Incomes Are the Most Housing Cost Burdened

In Charleston County, housing cost burden is heavily concentrated. You probably already guessed it. It’s most concentrated among households with the lowest incomes and across race and ethnicity. In Charleston County, housing cost burden is especially concentrated among renters earning less than $75,000. Nearly all renter households earning less than $35,000 are housing cost burdened. The rate remains high among renters earning between $35,000 and $75,000 before declining substantially at higher incomes.

FIGURE 1:  Housing Cost Burden by Household Income

In Charleston County, the median renter household pays about $1,620 a month in rent and utilities. To afford that amount without being housing cost burdened, a household would need an annual income of about $64,800.

Table 1 shows how housing cost burden varies by income, including the number of renter households affected. Nearly all renters earning less than $35,000 are housing cost burdened. As household income increases, the share of renters who are housing cost burdened sharply declines. 

Housing Cost Burden by Race and Ethnicity

Housing cost burden also varies by race and ethnicity. Approximately 59 percent of Black renter households and 61 percent of Hispanic renter households are housing cost burdened, compared with 52 percent of White renter households. Black and Hispanic renters also experience higher rates of severe housing cost burden.

The ability to absorb rising housing costs is not evenly distributed across Charleston County households. The data show both a broad affordability challenge and unequal exposure to that challenge across racial and ethnic groups.

FIGURE 2: Housing Cost Burden by Race and Ethnicity

The Takeaway

The rent is too darn high. More than half of Charleston County renters are housing cost burdened. But the numbers only tell part of the story. Understanding housing affordability also means listening to residents who are experiencing housing cost burden and learning what they are giving up, what tradeoffs they are making, and what would make housing more affordable for their families.

It also means looking beyond rent. Housing affordability is connected to what people earn and whether their incomes are keeping pace with the cost of living. That raises an important question for Charleston County: What can local leaders do to close the gap between what it costs to live here and what working families can afford?