51 Million Americans Struggling With Rent Increases As Prices Soar 400%

A new migrant crisis is brewing in the United States. Unlike the one at the southern border, this one will be all over the country.

Evictions are rising rapidly as millions of Americans face soaring rent increases driven by inflation, a shortage of affordable housing, and the end of pandemic relief. Rent prices are now 31.4% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with the median rent surpassing $2,000 in May 2024, according to Zillow.

This explains why a quarter of U.S. renters say they can no longer afford rent, and about one in five plan to move back in with parents or friends, according to a study by Intuit Credit Karma. "The current housing market has many Americans making adjustments to their living situations, including relocating to less expensive cities and even moving back in with their families," said Courtney Alev, consumer financial advocate at Intuit Credit Karma. "What's most concerning is that rising housing costs aren't just impacting younger generations, but older generations, too."

Alev noted that while rent prices have been surging in most parts of the country for a while, Americans have also had inflation, higher borrowing costs and record-high credit card debt to contend with. That's on top of federal student loan payments that resumed in October. No wonder why so many Americans are feeling pessimistic about the economy.

Earlier this year, a Harvard study found that half of the country’s 102 million renters spend a third or more of their income on housing. In other words, about 51 million households are currently cost-burdened by rent. Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at Harvard, said, "It’s one of the worst years we’ve ever seen." She added that the number of Americans spending 30% or more on rent in 2024 had not been seen since the Great Recession in 2008, when 10 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure.