Unequal Burdens: Cost Burdens in the New York Metropolitan Area, 2000-2017

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latino households

Latino Households Have The Highest Rates Of Rent Burden In The New York Metropolitan Area And The Second Highest Rates Of Mortgage Burden

NEW YORK, November 14, 2022—A new report published today by the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (CLACLS) at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) shows that more than half of Latino households experienced rent burden (spending 30% or more of total monthly income on housing costs) in the New York Metropolitan Area—a trend that increased since 2000.

The report, titled “Unequal Burdens: Cost Burdens in the New York Metropolitan Area, 2000- 2017” examines the trends in housing cost burdens in the New York metropolitan area focusing on disparities with respect to race and ethnicity, sex, age, educational attainment, nativity and country of origin.

The proportion of Latino households with rent burden was 59.2% in 2017—the highest of all race and ethnic groups, and increasing from 40.3% in 2000. Mortgage-burdened Latino households were 44.6% in 2017.

Each of the five largest Latino nationalities in the area—Puerto Rican, Domincan, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Colombian—also experienced increases in rent burdens, with Mexican households being the most affected at 65.0% and Puerto Rican households the least affected at 55.6%. In turn, Ecuadorian households were the most mortgage-burdened at 54.5.0%.

“Housing cost burden increased significantly for households in the New York metro area between 2000 and 2017. This was especially true for Latino-headed households, who saw the largest increase over this period and the highest burdens,” said Marco Castillo, one of the co- authors of the report. “Across the metro area over the study period, rates of rent burden for Latino-headed households grew in the suburban peripheries and decreased in the core,” added Kasey Zapatka, the other co-author.

Other key findings:

  • While median gross rents rose overall between 2000 and 2017, those changes were most intense closer to the metro core—median rents nearly doubled closer to the core but increased more modestly in the suburbs. While the spatial distribution of high and low rents is similar for Latino-headed households, the majority of the largest increases over the study period were in Long Island instead of the metro core.

  • Female-headed households consistently reporting higher levels of both rent and mortgage burden at every year across the study period. However, those gaps slightly diminished by 2017.

  • Foreign-born-headed households consistently reported higher levels of both rent and mortgage burden compared to domestic born-headed households. While the gap grew over time for renters, it persisted for homeowners.

  • Median rent-burdened households increased across the metro area; however, those increases were sharpest in the communities not in the core. This pattern was similar but more intense for Latino-headed households.

Contact Sebastián Villamizar-Santamaría, Director of Quantitative Research, for a PDF of the report at svillamizarsantamaria@gradcenter.cuny.edu.

About The Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies

The core mission of CLACLS is to actively support and advance the study of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latinos in the U.S. in the doctoral programs of The Graduate Center, and to provide opportunities for Latino students at the Ph.D. level. CLACLS’s flagship program is the Latino Data Project, established in 2003 by Laird W. Bergad founding and current CLACLS director. Bergad is a distinguished professor in the Department of Latin American, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at Lehman College and with the Ph.D. Program in History at The Graduate Center. The Latino Data Project conducts detailed quantitative research on the Latino population of the United States and New York City metropolitan region, analyzing raw data files produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.

About The Graduate Center, CUNY

The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) is a leader in public graduate education devoted to enhancing the public good through pioneering research, serious learning, and reasoned debate. The Graduate Center offers ambitious students more than 40 doctoral and master’s programs of the highest caliber, taught by top faculty from throughout CUNY — the nation’s largest public urban university. Through its nearly 40 centers, institutes, and initiatives, including its Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), The Graduate Center influences public policy and discourse and shapes innovation. The Graduate Center’s extensive public programs make it a home for culture and conversation.

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