18 million Americans are house poor, a new study shows. That's a million less than last year.
CBSN
More than 18 million Americans are living in homes that stretch their budgets far beyond what's considered financially healthy.
That's the major takeaway from a LendingTree study released this week, which found that about 18.3 million homeowners are what the housing industry calls cost-burdened, or house poor. The term "house poor" refers to homeowners who pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing — including the mortgage, utilities and other costs. Anyone who spends more than half of their monthly income on housing is considered severely housing cost-burdened.
High cost-of-living states California, Hawaii and New York have the largest share of house poor residents, while West Virginia, Indiana and Arkansas have the fewest, LendingTree said.
