Sky-high rental costs across the U.S. are swallowing up a large share of Americans' paychecks in cities, as a stubborn supply shortage keeps prices elevated.

According to Zillow, the median rent for a two-bedroom home in New York City, the country's priciest metro area, runs $4,750 a month — or $57,000 a year. That's more than two-thirds of the median household income, according to 2023 Census Bureau data.

Meanwhile, the high cost of keeping a roof over your head is weighing on Americans across the country, with the median annual rent now at $21,480, Zillow's data shows. The real estate firm estimates that nearly half of all U.S. renters are "cost-burdened," meaning that more than 30% of their income goes toward housing expenses. Among families with children under 18, 54% are rent-burdened, Zillow found.

"While the pace of increases has slowed, rents remain at a high level relative to income, and the share of cost-burdened renters has held at around 50% since the pandemic," Zillow and StreetEasy senior economist Kenny Lee told CBS News in an email.

Painfully high rent is particularly hard on low-income people. More than eight in 10 renters earning under $30,000 a year were cost-burdened in 2024, according to a report released earlier this year by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Why have rents spiked?
A severe housing shortage is the main reason rents have surged. The housing market faces a shortfall of 4.7 million homes, the result of two decades of underbuilding that began after the 2008 financial crisis. That gap also pushes more people into the rental market, further straining housing supply.

Lee said that while there's land available for development, construction has been bogged down by zoning restrictions and regulatory red tape, creating a backlog of projects in high-demand rental markets.

"Until those barriers come down, supply can't catch up," he said. "When you have a lot of people competing for too few homes, prices go up, particularly for bigger apartments that are already in scarce supply."

Median annual rent for a two-bedroom home in U.S. cities
A typical two-bedroom rent in New York City is $57,000 a year, or $4,750 a month, the highest of any U.S. metro area.

A bipartisan bill intended to shore up the nation's supply became law earlier this year, with the White House hailing it as "the most comprehensive and consequential housing legislation in the history of our country." However, while it's expected to boost supply over time, experts say it won't immediately ease price pressures.

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