Both renters and homeowners in Hawaii spend over half of their income on housing. Terelyuk/Shutterstock Housing costs can vary across US states based on home prices, energy costs, and local wages. Hawaii has the highest cost burden, with both renters and owners spending over half of their income. New York has a gap of over 30 percentage points in housing burdens between renters and homeowners. Whether you're shopping for a new home or just signed a lease on an apartment, you're no doubt aware of the high cost of housing — and the pressure it puts on tight budgets. To understand how housing costs affect people across the US, it helps to examine how rent and mortgage payments fit into local living costs, including wages and energy costs. For years, housing experts have cited keeping housing costs under 30% of monthly income as a rule of thumb for affordability, but in some states, this is far from a reality for many. A recent WalletHub study examined housing affordability across the US, measuring how much of the median income renters and homeowners in each state spend on housing each month. The study used data from the Council for Community and Economic Research, the US Census Bureau, Zillow, and WalletHub's in-house research to measure rent, mortgage, and home energy costs across all 50 states, which were then compared to each state's median monthly income to determine the burden of housing costs. In Hawaii, renters spend an average of 62.5% of their income on housing costs, and homeowners spend 50% on average, the study reported. While in some states the housing burden of homeowners and renters can be nearly equal — in Oklahoma, renters pay 20.3% and homeowners pay 20.4% of their income on housing costs — in others, there are significant gaps between the costs of renting and owning. New York leads the gap, with homeowners in the state spending an average of 30.4% on housing while renters spend 61.3%. "The current social and economic environment is significantly impacting monthly housing bill spending," Andrew Burnstine, an associate professor of business at Lynn University, said in the study. "This means that a larger portion of household budgets is now dedicated to simply keeping a roof overhead." In 20 states, renters can be considered housing-burdened, or spending over 30% of their income on housing. We ranked all 50 US states by how much both renters and homeowners spend on housing, on average. We also listed the median household income for each state, as reported on the most recent available American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau, which reflects incomes in 2024. See where each state falls. 50. Iowa Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 17.26% Renters' housing cost burden: 20.95% Median household income: $75,501 49. Oklahoma Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.36% Renters' housing cost burden: 20.29% Median household income: $66,148 48. Kansas Mihai_Andritoiu/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 18.64% Renters' housing cost burden: 23.55% Median household income: $75,514 47. South Dakota Rapid City, South Dakota. Mihai Andritoiu/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 21.18% Renters' housing cost burden: 21.86% Median household income: $76,881 46. Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 22.41% Renters' housing cost burden: 22.05% Median household income: $87,117 45. Arkansas Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 19.93% Renters' housing cost burden: 24.87% Median household income: $62,106 44. Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska, under 20 miles north of Hickman. Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 19.34% Renters' housing cost burden: 25.91% Median household income: $76,376 43. Missouri Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.68% Renters' housing cost burden: 24.58% Median household income: $71,589 42. North Dakota Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.36% Renters' housing cost burden: 25.01% Median household income: $77,871 41. Indiana Nicholas J Klein/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 19.70% Renters' housing cost burden: 26.49% Median household income: $71,959 40. West Virginia Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 18.39% Renters' housing cost burden: 28.32% Median household income: $60,798 39. Ohio Mihai_Andritoiu/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 19.68% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.10% Median household income: $72,212 38. Alabama Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 21.63% Renters' housing cost burden: 25.51% Median household income: $66,659 37. Michigan Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.39% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.47% Median household income: $72,389 36. Texas Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 22.63% Renters' housing cost burden: 25.26% Median household income: $79,721 35. Virginia Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.95% Renters' housing cost burden: 23.66% Median household income: $92,090 34. Wisconsin Mihai_Andritoiu/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 21.50% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.42% Median household income: $77,488 33. Kentucky Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.34% Renters' housing cost burden: 29.14% Median household income: $64,526 32. Mississippi Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 20.13% Renters' housing cost burden: 29.45% Median household income: $59,127 31. Wyoming Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.91% Renters' housing cost burden: 25.03% Median household income: $75,532 30. Georgia Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 23.87% Renters' housing cost burden: 26.84% Median household income: $79,991 29. Alaska Rex Lisman/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.21% Renters' housing cost burden: 26.53% Median household income: $95,665 28. Utah Allison H. Smith/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 30.01% Renters' housing cost burden: 21.73% Median household income: $96,658 27. North Carolina Raleigh, North Carolina. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.35% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.47% Median household income: $73,958 26. Delaware Dover, Delaware, was ranked the 10th best small city to start a business in. DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 25.42% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.43% Median household income: $87,534 25. Louisiana Shreveport, Louisiana. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 21.90% Renters' housing cost burden: 31.42% Median household income: $60,986 24. South Carolina f11photo/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 23.51% Renters' housing cost burden: 29.99% Median household income: $72,350 23. Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Alizada Studios/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 21.00% Renters' housing cost burden: 34.04% Median household income: $77,545 22. New Hampshire Manchester, New Hampshire. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.68% Renters' housing cost burden: 30.89% Median household income: $99,782 21. Tennessee Rudy Balasko/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.87% Renters' housing cost burden: 31.31% Median household income: $71,997 20. New Mexico Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 23.72% Renters' housing cost burden: 32.53% Median household income: $67,816 19. Colorado Nicholas Courtney/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 32.58% Renters' housing cost burden: 24.59% Median household income: $97,113 18. Idaho CSNafzger/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 30.88% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.91% Median household income: $81,166 17. Nevada Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 32.36% Renters' housing cost burden: 27.02% Median household income: $81,134 16. Maryland Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.00% Renters' housing cost burden: 35.44% Median household income: $102,905 15. New Jersey Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 26.13% Renters' housing cost burden: 33.53% Median household income: $104,294 14. Arizona Tucson, Arizona. Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 29.97% Renters' housing cost burden: 30.46% Median household income: $81,486 13. Illinois Chicago, Illinois. Moses P/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 19.70% Renters' housing cost burden: 40.96% Median household income: $83,211 12. Washington Seattle. SCStock/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 32.97% Renters' housing cost burden: 28.23% Median household income: $99,389 11. Montana Bozeman, Montana. Framalicious/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 30.47% Renters' housing cost burden: 31.05% Median household income: $75,340 10. Vermont John Couture/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 25.12% Renters' housing cost burden: 37.55% Median household income: $82,730 9. Connecticut Hartford, Connecticut. Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 24.89% Renters' housing cost burden: 38.58% Median household income: $96,049 8. Oregon Portland, Oregon. Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 33.56% Renters' housing cost burden: 37.22% Median household income: $85,220 7. Rhode Island Providence, Rhode Island. Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 28.77% Renters' housing cost burden: 43.57% Median household income: $83,504 6. Florida Jacksonville, Florida. RudyBalasko/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 29.16% Renters' housing cost burden: 44.69% Median household income: $77,735 5. Maine Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 26.60% Renters' housing cost burden: 52.72% Median household income: $76,442 4. California Sacramento, California. Dee Liu/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 43.00% Renters' housing cost burden: 39.84% Median household income: $100,149 3. Massachusetts Sean Pavone/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 33.67% Renters' housing cost burden: 51.47% Median household income: $104,828 2. New York New York City. Alexander Spatari/Getty Images Homeowners' housing cost burden: 30.41% Renters' housing cost burden: 61.28% Median household income: $85,820 1. Hawaii marchello74/Shutterstock Homeowners' housing cost burden: 50.02% Renters' housing cost burden: 62.52% Median household income: $100,745 Read the original article on Business Insider