What Americans Spend on Housing

Is there is one thing that brings people together, it’s the ridiculously high cost of housing. Want to buy a place? Good luck with that. If you do luck into homeownership, enjoy those skyrocketing bills. In late April and May, WIRED asked readers how they are thinking about homes in 2026. More than 200 people responded, sharing how they are living and at what cost, how their towns have changed and what compromises they have had to make.

Their top concern, by far? Affordability. The price of everyday goods. Their soaring utility bills. And, of course, the biggest cost of all—housing itself. The famous "30 percent" rule, which suggests limiting your housing spend to a third of your income, is effectively moot. According to data released earlier this year, nearly half of all renters paid more than that in 2024, as did 24 percent of homeowners. (A quarter of all rental households spent more than half of their income on housing.)

Financial stress showed up in one answer after another. Here’s how a 35-year-old homeowner in Tulsa, Oklahoma, put it: "I'm finding it hard to dream of fun things. Nothing is affordable.” A 20-year-old who’s living with his parents in De Berry, Texas, has found the stress in his five-person household to be mounting.

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