Over the past few years, housing costs have increased faster than many household incomes which has increased pressure on individual families to meet basic needs (including health insurance, healthcare, healthy foods, utilities and transportation).

Important Note: These are five-year rolling estimates. Therefore, only compare non-overlapping years.

Definition:
Percent of Households in NC that Spend 50% or More of their Household Income on Housing 

Why is this Important?

"Severe housing cost burden affects health and is linked to barriers to living long and well. Across counties in places where a higher share of households are severely cost burdened, there are also high rates of children in poverty and food insecurity, and more people in poor health." [County Health Rankings]

Additional Information:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) periodically receives "custom tabulations" of data from the U.S. Census Bureau that are largely not available through standard Census products. These data, known as the "CHAS" data (Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy), demonstrate the extent of housing problems and housing needs, particularly for low income households. The CHAS data are used by local governments to plan how to spend HUD funds and may also be used by HUD to distribute grant funds.

The Percent of Households in NC that Spend 50% or More of their Household Income on Housing indicator is aligned with HNC 2030.  

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (CCR&R) - Business Analyst, Delorme map data, ESRI, & US Census Tiger line Files

References and Links:

https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/north-carolina?year=2025&measure=Severe+Housing+Cost+Burden*

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/cp.html