Long-term census data released Thursday shows the cost of housing in the Baltimore area and the rest of Maryland increasing at slower rates than the country as a whole even though it is more than 15% higher than the national average and a greater share of renters here are considered cost burdened.
U.S. Census Bureau data from the American Community Survey’s latest five-year estimates revealed the median Maryland renter pays about $1,600 a month in rent and utilities, about $100 more than the average Baltimore-area renter. Renters’ costs are up 22.5% statewide and 24% in the Baltimore region compared with 32% nationally, according to the data, which combines survey results from 2019 to 2023 to achieve more precise estimates than a single-year survey.
Nationally and within Maryland, renters are more likely to spend more than 30% of their income on housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s threshold for being “cost burdened.” Statewide more than 46% of renters are cost burdened compared with just shy of a quarter of homeowners. In the Baltimore area, which in census data includes Queen Anne’s County as well as Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties, the same share of renters are cost burdened while the rate for mortgage holders is over a percentage point lower.
Michael Bader, a professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, said that mortgage holders’ costs are usually lower than renters’ due to the nature of the amortized mortgage’s consistent payments. Renters, however, contend with a shortage of housing units, he said.
The more recent but less precise snapshot provided by 1-year American Community Survey data released in September showed an even greater share of renters to be considered cost burdened with the rate topping 48% in Maryland and approaching 50% nationally, with rates higher for Black-only and Hispanic-only households than white-only households.
Baltimore City
Despite the growing unaffordability of housing in the state and the Baltimore area in particular, luxury apartment buildings in the city continue to be built. Since 2020, four of five newly constructed apartment buildings in Baltimore were considered luxury housing, according to real estate data firm the Costar Group.
Bader said most housing development worldwide is tending toward the higher-end due to the higher profit potential for developers. Though some economists believe any increase in housing stock can ultimately decrease costs due to greater supply, Bader said, that correlation wasn’t exact. The effect could take many years to show, he said, but the increase in supply may not create savings for those in the most need for affordable housing.
Nationally and in Maryland and the Baltimore area, considering all types of housing together — homes owned with or without mortgages and renters — less than one out of three households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. In a handful of tracts in the Baltimore area, however, the rate is more than twice that.
Data shows that in census tract 907 in Baltimore’s Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood, for example, 70% of households are cost burdened. Rental units in the tract make up just over half of the housing stock.
Claudia Wilson Randall, Executive Director of the Community Development Network of Maryland, an advocacy group that works in affordable housing among other issues, said incomes were not rising to meet the costs of rent.
“The market will never fix this problem because we don’t base rent on the amount of money that you make,” Randall said, emphasizing the mismatch between the high number of luxury units versus what Baltimoreans can afford.
Anne Arundel County
Another census tract with an especially high share of cost burdened households is in Anne Arundel County. In tract 7305.11 in the Glen Burnie area, 67% of households are cost burdened. County Executive Steuart Pittman said the disparity was part of a “housing crisis.”
“Affordability is more important than just supply,” Pittman said. “The affordability problem doesn’t get any better when all you build is luxury housing.”
Current housing developments across the county are not required to have affordable housing, but new projects will be, Pittman said. Under the Housing Attainability Act, which will come into effect in July, new housing developments over 20 units will be required to designate 15% of its units for affordable rentals and 10% for affordable homes for sale.
Howard County
Howard County was shown as Maryland’s most expensive jurisdiction for renters and mortgage holders. In the county, where 28% of housing units are rented, the affordability gap between homeowners and renters was also the most stark.
Howard County renters were cost burdened at a rate of 44% versus just 20% of homeowners. The median rent in the county is $2,040 a month, while median monthly housing costs for homeowners was $2,950.
“I think Howard County is one of the best places in the world to live,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said. “I think people are competing to move into Howard County.”
“To be able to just get into Howard County, many people are looking at renting,” he continued. “And we want to frankly expand more of the homeownership opportunities.”
He touted recent investments to stabilize the housing situation in the area, such as $2 million invested to subsidize rentals and security deposit guarantees for the families of county students experiencing homelessness.
Ball also explained that the county’s Moderate Income Housing Unit Program requires a percentage of housing built to be affordable to households of moderate income. The moderate income level is defined as “household income less than 80% of the Howard County median income (AMI) for units for sale and household income less than 60% of the Howard County median income for rental units,” according to the county’s website.
Despite the policy efforts across Maryland, Randall said, “I think what’s being done and what’s being discussed by the county executives is moving in the right direction. I’m very excited to see county executives talk explicitly about the need for affordable housing … but I don’t think it’s adequate.”
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Percentage of households spending more than 30% of income on housing by census tract
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 5-year Estimates