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Cornell Program on Applied Demographics
In cooperation with the Community and Regionale Development Institute (CaRDI)

Housing affordability by household income

Split by upstate/downstate

New York Minute, issue number 62, July 2014

Data Sources

Other Resources

  • Upstate NY - 2012
  • Downstate NY - 2012
  • Upstate NY - 2000
  • Downstate NY - 2000
  • Definitions
Renters Owners
All households Households above affordability threshold All households Households above affordability threshold
Income class Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size
1-10K 127,747 1.76 113,135 88.6% 1.81 44,665 1.76 43,047 96.4% 1.78
10K-20K 178,147 1.83 141,988 79.7% 1.94 130,412 1.51 92,507 70.9% 1.59
20K-30K 143,470 1.99 98,493 68.7% 2.11 158,122 1.80 80,971 51.2% 1.96
30K-40K 107,244 2.14 38,658 36.0% 2.48 159,583 2.08 63,056 39.5% 2.36
40K-50K 81,787 2.30 13,811 16.9% 3.11 169,836 2.19 48,256 28.4% 2.46
50K-60K 68,070 2.26 6,088 8.9% 2.85 167,598 2.36 37,762 22.5% 2.63
60K-70K 46,536 2.42 2,578 5.5% 2.69 163,573 2.49 26,105 16.0% 2.82
70K-80K 33,889 2.35 1,332 3.9% 2.63 136,833 2.68 19,000 13.9% 2.92
80K-90K 27,130 2.60 399 1.5% 2.02 124,239 2.84 15,313 12.3% 3.21
90K-100K 17,181 2.64 301 1.8% 1.80 106,741 2.90 9,075 8.5% 2.94
>100K 45,751 2.82 723 1.6% 2.14 508,107 3.08 22,947 4.5% 3.41
All 876,952 2.10 417,506 47.6% 2.05 1,869,709 2.49 458,039 24.5% 2.25
Renters Owners
All households Households above affordability threshold All households Households above affordability threshold
Income class Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size
1-10K 286,575 1.85 247,854 86.5% 1.90 40,143 1.68 38,580 96.1% 1.66
10K-20K 350,537 2.23 292,381 83.4% 2.32 102,273 1.71 90,279 88.3% 1.76
20K-30K 279,992 2.51 232,613 83.1% 2.58 111,943 2.10 91,162 81.4% 2.23
30K-40K 231,901 2.49 175,400 75.6% 2.56 121,106 2.21 86,880 71.7% 2.42
40K-50K 212,456 2.57 128,600 60.5% 2.67 114,126 2.46 75,405 66.1% 2.69
50K-60K 175,183 2.60 77,802 44.4% 2.71 120,214 2.57 67,011 55.7% 2.97
60K-70K 154,878 2.55 54,074 34.9% 2.74 119,979 2.63 66,316 55.3% 3.02
70K-80K 127,985 2.50 26,307 20.6% 2.43 122,768 2.74 60,928 49.6% 3.22
80K-90K 99,037 2.51 16,463 16.6% 1.95 113,622 2.80 56,560 49.8% 3.18
90K-100K 70,695 2.69 10,709 15.1% 2.53 102,178 2.87 41,976 41.1% 3.42
>100K 408,575 2.59 24,345 6.0% 2.21 921,731 3.28 159,360 17.3% 3.62
All 2,397,814 2.42 1,286,548 53.7% 2.39 1,990,083 2.82 834,457 41.9% 2.80
Renters Owners
All households Households above affordability threshold All households Households above affordability threshold
Income class Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size
1-10K 112,141 1.77 98,585 87.9% 1.83 39,202 1.59 37,789 96.4% 1.61
10K-20K 172,772 1.82 133,103 77.0% 1.95 115,677 1.57 82,390 71.2% 1.67
20K-30K 134,434 2.06 79,852 59.4% 2.25 148,850 1.86 69,632 46.8% 2.17
30K-40K 121,376 2.19 36,054 29.7% 2.56 168,512 2.15 64,296 38.2% 2.48
40K-50K 86,832 2.34 10,084 11.6% 2.85 164,706 2.42 50,777 30.8% 2.78
50K-60K 72,628 2.45 4,183 5.8% 2.84 171,298 2.59 40,494 23.6% 2.98
60K-70K 51,848 2.59 1,670 3.2% 3.13 158,282 2.76 28,069 17.7% 3.17
70K-80K 39,874 2.66 892 2.2% 3.44 146,476 2.94 17,402 11.9% 3.30
80K-90K 24,328 2.73 272 1.1% 3.03 126,493 3.03 11,770 9.3% 3.37
90K-100K 19,634 2.74 217 1.1% 2.12 111,512 3.08 8,073 7.2% 3.42
>100K 53,709 2.75 306 0.6% 2.37 498,381 3.15 16,373 3.3% 3.38
All 889,576 2.19 365,218 41.1% 2.09 1,849,389 2.64 427,065 23.1% 2.43
Renters Owners
All households Households above affordability threshold All households Households above affordability threshold
Income class Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size Count Avg. household size Count Percent of all Avg. household size
1-10K 285,246 2.06 251,661 88.2% 2.14 38,483 1.83 36,979 96.1% 1.85
10K-20K 313,386 2.21 252,086 80.4% 2.26 83,960 1.78 72,347 86.2% 1.83
20K-30K 238,606 2.50 178,333 74.7% 2.52 92,514 2.02 66,205 71.6% 2.19
30K-40K 249,964 2.49 141,420 56.6% 2.57 110,000 2.23 65,793 59.8% 2.54
40K-50K 199,956 2.60 64,491 32.3% 2.68 105,929 2.46 54,932 51.9% 2.90
50K-60K 190,984 2.57 36,969 19.4% 2.53 116,610 2.60 56,681 48.6% 3.13
60K-70K 151,473 2.64 19,680 13.0% 2.44 114,485 2.80 52,474 45.8% 3.37
70K-80K 129,502 2.71 11,604 9.0% 2.42 115,631 2.92 48,549 42.0% 3.47
80K-90K 97,588 2.85 7,164 7.3% 2.42 107,696 3.10 40,124 37.3% 3.68
90K-100K 84,324 2.76 4,860 5.8% 2.09 106,556 3.12 32,442 30.4% 3.66
>100K 376,487 2.78 11,701 3.1% 2.13 867,296 3.32 86,370 10.0% 3.61
All 2,317,516 2.51 979,969 42.3% 2.36 1,859,160 2.92 612,896 33.0% 2.89
  • A household is above the affordability threshold when it spends more than 30% of its household income on cost of housing
  • Cost of housing is taken as Gross Rent for renters and Selected monthly owner costs for owners From the Census Bureau Glossary:
    • Gross Rent: The amount of the contract rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas, and water and sewer) and fuels (oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.) if these are paid for by the renter (or paid for the renter by someone else). Gross rent is intended to eliminate differentials which result from varying practices with respect to the inclusion of utilities and fuels as part of the rental payment.
    • Selected monthly owner costs: Selected monthly owner costs are calculated from the sum of payment for mortgages, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs, and condominium fees.
  • For these analysis Upstate New York is defined as all counties north of Rockland and Westchester County. Downstate is defined as Rockland and Westchester County, the 5 boroughs in New York City and the two counties on Long Island.
  • All money amounts are adjusted for inflation and are in 2012 dollars
  • Households with zero or negative income are excluded from the analyses