Which Cities Have More Renters?

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Between 2006 and 2016, there was a significant increase in the number of renters nationwide. According to an analysis of United States Census Bureau data by the rental listings site RentCafe, by 2016, roughly 23 million additional people were living in rentals — or nearly the same number of people that the country’s overall population rose by in that decade (23.7 million)

In 2006, 20 of the country’s 100 largest cities had more renters than homeowners. By 2016, that number had grown to 42. Of those cities, Newark had the largest share of renters (74 percent), followed by Jersey City, (70 percent), Miami (68 percent), New York (65 percent), and Boston (64 percent).

Which cities recently joined the list? Here are the 22 new renter-majority areas, ranked by the greatest proportional increases. (Cities farther down the list may be larger, have added more renters or have a larger percentage of renters than cities above them if they had less growth in renters relative to their populations.

Renters made up about 36 percent of the population in the United States in 2016, but the rate at which renter share increased year over year peaked in 2009. And while the percentage of renters in the country is the highest it has been since 1986, according to the Pew Research Center, that still leaves the majority of the population in owner-occupied housing.

Source: nytimes.com