RICHMOND, VA – HOUSING AFFORDABILITY DATA
As of 2013, there are 84,833 households in the city of Richmond (2013 ACS, 5-year estimate). The FY2014
HUD Area Median Income (AMI) for the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is $72,900 for a
four person household. Twenty-five percent of city households have income greater than 120 percent of
the Area Median Income (AMI). Fifty-nine percent of city households have incomes less than 80 percent
of AMI. The remaining sixteen percent of households in Richmond have incomes between 80 and 120
percent of AMI. Figure 1 shows all households in the City of Richmond, sorted by their income and level
of cost burden. Forty-seven percent of all households are cost burdened.
25,000
20,000
Total number of households in AMI
category shown above each column.
19,330
20,131
16,319
15,000
11,907
10,000
8,079
5,665
5,000
0
<30 AMI
30-50 AMI
<30%
Cost
Burden
Not
Cost
Burdened
50-80 AMI
80-100 AMI
30-49% Cost Burden
100-120 AMI
>120 AMI
50%+ Cost Burden
Figure 1, Households by Cost Burden and Income, 2012 PUMS
A household is cost burdened
when the residents spend 30
>120 AMI
5%
percent or more of their income
Moderate-High Income Categories
on housing costs. Figure 2 shows
100-120 AMI
2%
the portion of cost burdened
Low Income Categories
households in each income
category from Figure 1. Nearly
80-100 AMI
6%
half of the city’s cost burdened
households have extremely-low
50-80 AMI
(less than 30 percent of AMI) and
20%
very-low (between 30 and 50
percent of AMI) incomes and are
30-50 AMI
25%
paying more than 50 percent of
their household income for
housing. Approximately 3,030
<30 AMI
42%
moderate-income households
are cost burdened.
Figure 2, Distribution of Cost Burdened Households by Income, 2012 PUMS
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2.
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3.
Of the 37,409 homeowner households in the city of Richmond, 13,489 (36 percent) are cost burdened
(2012 PUMS)1. Of the 44,745 renter households, 24,900 (56 percent) are cost burdened (ibid)1. Figure 3
compares the percent of cost burdened homeowners and renters, by income category. For both housing
tenures, the majority of households that are cost burdened make less than 80 percent of AMI. More than
80 percent of both homeowners and renters making less than 30 percent of AMI are cost burdened. For
households making more than 80 percent of AMI, the number of cost burdened households decreases as
income increases. There are a total of 4,873 cost burdened households making more than 80 percent of
AMI (ibid). Almost 90 percent of homeowners with moderate incomes are cost burdened.
100%
80%
89%
60%
80%
83%
72%
52%
40%
45%
43%
20%
15%
16%
7%
0%
<30 AMI
30-50 AMI
50-80 AMI
80-100 AMI
Owners
100-120 AMI
11%
3%
>120 AMI
Renters
Figure 3, Percentage of Cost Burdened Households by Tenure and Income
The city of Richmond’s total annual housing affordability deficit is $233 million, 27 percent of the total
Richmond Planning District Commission’s deficit. This deficit is the amount of additional money needed
to completely eliminate the city’s housing cost burdens (the gap between actual gross housing costs and
30 percent of the household’s income). Extremely low-income households bear the largest part of the
city’s affordable housing income deficit with $127,490,652 (2012 PUMS). Of this income category, 78
percent of the deficit is born by households that are severely cost burdened, as depicted in blue in Figure
4. For the city to decrease the housing affordability deficit, community members and stakeholders must
commit to making affordable housing accessible to low income residents.
$140,000,000
16,063
$120,000,000
Total number of cost burdened
households in AMI category
shown above each column
$100,000,000
$80,000,000
$60,000,000
9,607
$40,000,000
7,846
$20,000,000
1,843
2,373
657
$<30 AMI
30-50 AMI
50-80 AMI
30-39
Cost Burden Level:
80-100 AMI
40-49
100-120 AMI
>120 AMI
50+
Figure 4, Affordability Deficit by Cost Burden and Income, 2012 PUMS
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Housing tenures estimated using 2012 PUMS data, so renters plus owners does not equal households on page 1.
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2.
2
3.