An increasing percentage of Chicago renters have been spending too much for rent and utilities, mirroring a national trend that leaves households with a tight budget for other necessities.

Affordable housing advocates say spending more than 30% of household income for rent and utilities leaves little room for other basic necessities and can force households to spend less on food, clothing, transportation and health care.

In addition, by living paycheck to paycheck and being unable to build any savings, these households are at risk of incurring debt and even facing eviction. Renter households spending above that 30% of household income threshold are considered cost-burdened.

Yet, in 2022 nearly 47% of Chicago renters — an estimated 600,000 people — lived in households spending more than 30% of household income for rent and utilities, according to a WBEZ analysis of census estimates.

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, less than 42% of Chicago renters were cost-burdened, the lowest citywide figure since at least 2006. However, that percentage increased in both 2021 and 2022, reaching its highest citywide figure since 2016.

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The increase is part of a nationwide trend highlighted last month in a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The study documented a record number of 22.4 million cost-burdened renter households across the country in 2022 — representing half of all U.S. renters. Among the reasons researchers offered were rising rents, a shrinking supply of affordable housing stock and a shift in new construction toward luxury dwellings.

WBEZ mirrored the Harvard study to provide a closer look at what happened in Chicago between 2006 to 2022.

WBEZ analyzed census microdata prepared by iPUMS USA and the University of Minnesota. The microdata provide information about individuals and households drawn from representative samples of data from the American Community Survey, which is conducted each year by the U.S. Census Bureau. WBEZ’s analysis captured income and renter status for Chicago households as well as demographic information for individuals in renter households.

The following charts highlight key findings from the analysis. The figures reflect weighted estimates and do not represent actual population counts.

The percentage of cost-burdened renters grew during the pandemic

In 2010, as the nation was beginning to rebound from the Great Recession, about 53.3% of Chicago renters were cost-burdened. That figure steadily declined over the next decade — even falling six years in a row — reaching a low of 41.6% in 2020. However, it increased sharply in 2021, and it rose slightly again in 2022.

Meanwhile, a subset of cost-burdened Chicago renters also increased sharply during the pandemic — renters considered severely cost-burdened. These are individuals living in renter households spending more than 50% of household income for rent and utilities — households at even greater risk of eviction in the event of rising rent or unexpected expenses. The percentage of severely cost-burdened renters climbed from 19.9% in 2019 to 27.4% in 2022, according to the WBEZ analysis.

Close to three out of every five cost-burdened renters were severely cost-burdened

In a report issued last summer, highlighting data from 2012 to 2021, the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University identified the rising percentages of cost-burdened and severely cost-burdened Chicago households.

The institute cited substantial declines in the city’s affordable housing stock — particularly the loss of two- to four-unit buildings, which researchers called “the backbone of Chicago’s unsubsidized affordable housing supply” — as a primary cause. The institute also noted the construction of larger multifamily properties didn’t provide a remedy since those properties were much less likely to be affordable.

The trend continued in 2022, as more than 58% of cost-burdened renters were severely cost-burdened — the highest level in any year since at least 2006, the WBEZ analysis showed. As recently as 2019, fewer than half of cost-burdened renters were severely cost-burdened.

Parts of the city’s South and West sides had the highest rates of cost-burdened renters

While some renters in all parts of the city were spending more than 30% of household income for rent and utilities, in some communities most renters were cost-burdened, the WBEZ analysis showed.

Individual community areas were not identified in the data analyzed by WBEZ. Instead, collections of communities — ranging from two to eight in number — were grouped together as geographies in the data.

In 2022, more than 63% of renters were cost-burdened in the West Side grouping of the Austin, East Garfield Park, North Lawndale and West Garfield Park community areas, the highest share in the city. The next highest mark — nearly 62% of renters — was found in the South Side cluster of the Avalon Park, Burnside, Calumet Heights, Chatham, Pullman, Riverdale, Roseland and West Pullman communities.

Meanwhile, the lowest percentage of cost-burdened renters, at 26%, was found in the Southwest Side grouping of the Archer Heights, Ashburn, Clearing, Garfield Ridge, West Elsdon and West Lawn communities.

Two-thirds of low-income renters were severely cost-burdened

Being cost-burdened has been the norm for the vast majority of low-income renters in Chicago through the years, the WBEZ analysis showed.

In 2022, a whopping 88% of Chicago renters living in households earning less than $35,000 — about half the citywide median of roughly $70,400 — were cost-burdened. More than 68% of renters in those households were severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their household income for rent and utilities.

Those percentages shrink dramatically at higher levels of household income. Cost-burdened and severely cost-burdened renters were rare among households earning more than the citywide median.

Most of the youngest and oldest renters were cost-burdened

A majority of Chicago’s children living as renters — more than 57% — were in cost-burdened households in 2022. At 58% and 56%, respectively, the same was true among Chicagoans between the ages of 18 and 24 and those ages 65 and older.

In fact, a majority of each of those age groups have lived in cost-burdened renter households each year since 2006, according to the WBEZ analysis. However, those percentages have come down over the years. For instance, in 2007, more than 66% of children in renter households were cost-burdened, the analysis shows.

Chicago renters between the ages of 25 and 34 have posted the lowest cost-burdened percentages each year since 2006. In 2022, that figure was 35% for 25- to 34-year olds.

Alden Loury is the data projects editor for WBEZ. Follow him at @AldenLoury.