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One in Four Nonmetro Households are Housing Stressed
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Of the Nation’s 2,000-plus nonmetropolitan (nonmetro)
counties, 302 are defined as housing stressed, according to ERS’s
recently updated county typology. In these counties, at least 30
percent of households failed to meet widely used standards for minimum
basic amenities in 2000. This categorization of household-level
housing stress requires that one or more of the following conditions
be met: (1) housing expense/income threshold—expenses exceed
30 percent of income, (2) crowding—more household members
than rooms, (3) incomplete plumbing—home lacked necessary
bathroom facilities, and (4) incomplete kitchen—home lacked
essential kitchen facilities. This housing stress typology, based
on 2000 Census data, can help rural development planners identify
counties with the greatest housing assistance needs.
The principal component of housing stress is high housing
expenses relative to income, but the other stress conditions also
have an
impact. In nonmetro housing stress counties, 28 percent of households
exceeded the expense/income threshold, while 7 percent of homes
were crowded and 2 percent lacked either complete plumbing or
kitchens. Such levels on all four conditions are well above those
in other
nonmetro counties, signifying more severe housing problems.
Compared with other nonmetro counties, housing stress
counties are clustered mainly in the Southeast and the West, and
have higher
proportions of minorities and higher poverty and unemployment
rates. They contained 16 percent of all nonmetro households in
2000, but
nearly twice that share of all nonmetro Black households (30
percent). An even higher concentration of nonmetro Native American
(48 percent)
and Hispanic (37 percent) households were found in housing stress
counties. The family poverty rate in housing stress counties
(15.1 percent) was well above that in other nonmetro counties (10.3
percent),
as was the unemployment rate (8.4 percent in housing stress counties,
compared with 5.7 percent in other nonmetro counties).
The greater incidence of households with relatively
high housing expenses is largely driven by low income and applies
to both renters and homeowners in housing stress counties. These
counties also have a high share of renters, whose housing costs
usually reflect current market conditions. In contrast, homeowners
benefit from monthly mortgage payments that are generally unaffected
by inflation. Supply constraints do not appear to influence housing
expense differences, since vacancy rates for year-round homes in
housing stress counties and other nonmetro counties are similar.
The housing stress typology identifies nonmetro counties
with a high share of housing problems. But the housing stress definition
includes some households whose high housing expenditures reflect
a personal choice and not a financial burden, while it excludes
others living in cheap low-quality housing. Program responses will
be most effective when tailored to the specifics of household and
community needs.
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