The federal government considers 30% of income a threshold for affordable housing. Renters paying more than 30% of their income in rent are considered cost-burdened and may struggle to afford other basic needs.

In 2016-20, 47% of rental units in the region had residents whose housing costs were above the affordability threshold. That was similar to the national share of 46% and slightly lower than the state share of 49%. The region's share declined 5 percentage points from 2011-15 to 2016-20, while the state and national shares each declined 2 percentage points.

Among the region's counties, Livingston had the highest share of rental units with cost-burdened tenants in 2016-20, at 51%, followed by Monroe, at 50%. The share was lowest in Wyoming (30%). In the City of Rochester, 53% of rental units had cost-burdened residents.

Multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are expected to be released in the fourth quarter.