Country dossier
A high-income housing market where prices and rents have outrun many households' incomes.
The United States has deep official housing statistics — Census construction data, FHFA house prices, HUD programs, and Federal Reserve credit series — and a housing debate that often treats local zoning, finance, and underbuilding as the core constraints. OECD figures place the U.S. price-to-income index well above its 2015 level. This page is a country dossier, not a claim that U.S. conditions define the world.
Price-to-income index
128.5
index, 2015 = 100
OECD price-to-income index, not a multiple of annual household income. 100 = 2015. 128.5 means house prices outpaced disposable income per head by 28.5% relative to 2015. Value as reported for 2024 from the OECD housing-prices series.
Low-income renter overburden
More than half
of low-income tenant households
OECD identifies the United States among countries where more than half of low-income tenant households spend over 40% of disposable income on rent.
OECD reports that more than half of low-income tenant households in the United States are overburdened by housing costs, using a 40% of disposable income threshold. Real house prices remain far above pre-pandemic levels even after the 2022 peak.
Twentieth-century suburban expansion, redlining, exclusionary zoning, the savings-and-loan and 2008 housing-finance crises, and a long decline in housing construction relative to household formation in high-demand metros all still shape today's map. Those histories are documented in Census, HUD, and Federal Reserve sources and will be expanded here with citations as dossiers deepen.
U.S. housing policy is fragmented across federal finance, state law, and local land use. No single act created current conditions, and no single bill will reverse them.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
This heading is part of the standing country/city template. Content is added when a sourced statistic or analysis exists for United States. Until then the section remains a labeled slot rather than a fabricated narrative.
A housing crisis can be a crisis of adequacy, a crisis of affordability, or both. In the United States the dominant official evidence is affordability: prices and rents have risen faster than many households' incomes, and OECD data show severe rent overburden among low-income tenants. Wealth at the national level does not cancel local scarcity.
Start with primary statistical agencies: the Census Bureau (construction, vacancies, ACS), FHFA (house prices), HUD (programs and worst-case housing needs), BLS (rent in CPI), and the Federal Reserve / FRED (mortgage rates and credit). Journalism is useful for spotting issues; it is not the original dataset.
[1] Tier 1 — Primary
OECD. Housing prices indicators.
OECD statistical indicators for nominal and real house prices, rent prices, price-to-rent, and price-to-income. Price-to-income is nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head, indexed to 2015 = 100.
Open original source[2] Tier 1 — Primary
OECD. Affordable housing.
OECD overview of housing affordability. States that real house prices have increased by over 40% over the past decade on average across the OECD, and that one in three low-income tenant households spend over 40% of disposable income on rent.
Open original source