Nearly 6 in 10 Miami-Dade renters spend a third of income on housing
The U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 survey finds 283,729 Miami-Dade renter households above the 30%-of-income line and 155,804 above 50%.
of Miami-Dade renter households pay 30% or more of income on housing (283,729 households)
- Published
- Sep 22, 2026
- Geography
- Miami-Dade County
| Under 10% | 2.1 |
| 10-14.9% | 4.2 |
| 15-19.9% | 7.7 |
| 20-24.9% | 9.5 |
| 25-29.9% | 10.1 |
| 30-34.9% | 8.9 |
| 35-39.9% | 7.4 |
| 40-49.9% | 11.1 |
| 50%+ | 33.4 |
Meeting & town-hall brief
Key points
- 0160.9% of Miami-Dade renters (283,729 households) pay 30% or more of income on housing.
- 0233.4% — 155,804 households — pay more than half their income on rent.
- 03Median income is $71,753; median rent is $1,829 a month.
- 04County incomes run 3.8% below the Florida median while home values run 29% above it.
- 05A HUD-priced two-bedroom costs 40.7% of median income; the median renter pays 30.6%.
What to say
- "In this county, 155,804 renter households spend more than half their income on rent."
- "We are the state's most expensive housing market and one of its lower-income ones: home values 29% above Florida, incomes 3.8% below it."
- "Nearly half of Miami-Dade households rent — 47.8% — so rent changes move the whole county."
- "Every figure here is from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 survey and HUD's 2026 rent schedule, and both are dated."
Every figure above is drawn from the source listed at the bottom of this page. Check them against the source before quoting at a public meeting.
Analysis
What the numbers say. In Miami-Dade County, 465,971 of 975,411 households rent their homes — 47.8% of the county. Of those renters, 283,729 (60.9%) spend thirty percent or more of income on housing, and 155,804 (33.4%) spend half or more. Median household income is $71,753; median rent actually paid is $1,829 a month.
Where the burden sits. Only 33.6% of renter households keep housing under a third of income. The largest single group is the worst-off bracket: 33.4%% of renters pay more than half of everything they earn, and another 11.1% pay between 40 and 50 percent.
Miami-Dade against Florida. The county's median household income ($71,753) is 3.8% *below* the state median ($74,568), while its median home value ($463,000) sits 29% *above* the state ($359,000). Statewide, 56.3% of renters are cost-burdened and 29.3% pay half their income; in Miami-Dade the shares are 4.6 and 4.1 points higher.
Cross-check against the federal rent ceiling. HUD's official two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for Miami-Dade is $2,436 a month for 2026 — 40.7% of the county's median household income. The Census says the median renter actually pays $1,829 a month, 30.6% of income. The two figures measure different things — one is a program ceiling, the other what people really pay — and both point the same way: a standard two-bedroom in this county absorbs close to half a median income.
Why this matters for displacement. Housing cost burden is the step before eviction: households paying half or more of income on rent have little left for a deposit, a repair, or a month of missed work. Miami-Dade has 155,804 renter households in that position, and 119,572 vacant housing units (10.9% of the stock).
Limitations. These are American Community Survey five-year estimates for the 2024 release, so they average 2020 through 2024 and understate the sharpest recent rent increases. The cost-burden table covers renter households and excludes group quarters; 33.6% of renters report no computed housing cost, so brackets do not sum to exactly 100%. Renter and owner counts come from a separate table and are reported independently.
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