We partnered with the ChamberofCommerce.org team to develop a digital PR campaign aimed at driving referral traffic and expanding reach to their site, with a focus on the topic of real estate. The result was a data-driven analysis of cities with the most cost-burdened homeowners, which garnered prominent media coverage in both national and local news publications.
Many homeowners across the country have found themselves stuck in homes they can’t afford. Whether it’s due to high interest rates or simply choosing to live beyond their means, homeowners spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs are considered “house poor.” The “30% rule” is a popular standard for budgeting, which advises homeowners to avoid spending more than 30% of their income on housing expenses. But for many homeowners, it’s not an easy rule to follow.
In order to get a better understanding of where homeowners are living beyond their means, we took a close look at which cities are home to the highest percentage of cost-burdened homeowners.
To determine our ranking, we analyzed median household income and median monthly housing costs across more than 9 million households located in the most populated 170 census-defined places via the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Cities were ranked based on the percentage of homeowners who spend more than 30% of their household income on monthly housing costs.
This timely and topical data earned media coverage within top-tier publications such as The New York Times, CNBC, CBS News, NBC News, Yahoo, Yahoo Finance, Housing Wire, and Bankrate. Due to the localized data featured within this campaign, coverage was also earned in dozens of local online newspapers as well as TV news outlets in major cities across the country such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, and Miami.
