Although it has been reported that some people are being forced to rent, this is not true across the board. Renting is preferred by many Millennials and Gen Zs, according to a RentCafe study.
Renting is very popular among high-income earners, even those who can afford to buy, but prefer to rent. This is despite the fact that 43 million families live in apartments. RentCafe’s most recent analysis of IPUMS data revealed that the number renters with an annual income of more than $150,000 increased by 82% between 2015-2020, faster than the overall increase in renters who increased by 3.2% over the same period.
A new type of tenant has emerged from the 2.6million high-earners renting in the U.S.: the millionaire renter. Since 2015, the number of renter households with incomes above $1 million has tripled.
New York is the “it place” for renters who earn more than $150,000, with almost 300,000 such households by 2020. Los Angeles is second with 82,655 high income renter households. San Francisco and Chicago are next with 80,020, 51,000 and 51,000 respectively.
Chicago saw a 97% increase of high-income renter households between 2015 and 2020, which is one of the largest in the U.S.