District of Columbia: County Rent Burden

What rent burden reveals about District of Columbia

Rent burden measures the share of household income going to rent. The federal standard, used by HUD and the Census Bureau, flags any household paying more than 30% of gross income on rent as "cost-burdened" and any household above 50% as "severely cost-burdened." This page calculates county-level burden by dividing HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rents, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom, by Census-reported median household income for each county in District of Columbia. Across the 1 counties with complete data, the weighted average 2-bedroom burden is 25.4%, compared with a national average of 21.7% - meaning District of Columbia sits 3.7 percentage points higher than the US benchmark.

The distribution matters more than the state average. In District of Columbia, 0 of 1 counties (0%) have a 2-bedroom burden above 30%, and 0 counties cross the severe-burden threshold of 50%. The most burdened county is District of Columbia at 25.4%, where the FY 2026 2-bedroom FMR of $2,246 eats that share of the local median income of $106,287. Because HUD's FMR sits at the 40th percentile of gross rents, this calculation understates the reality faced by renters paying market-rate: many higher-quality units in each county rent well above FMR, pushing actual burden rates even higher than the numbers shown below.

Burden data has direct policy stakes. High-burden counties see stronger demand for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (which cap tenant contribution at 30% of adjusted income and cover the gap up to FMR) and for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) units, both of which rely on HUD's FMR as the foundational input. High burden also correlates with longer waitlists for public housing and greater housing instability, eviction filings, doubling up, and homelessness all rise in counties above the 50% threshold. Pair this page with the cheapest-counties ranking and year-over-year rent growth to see which District of Columbia counties are getting more affordable, which are tightening fastest, and where the burden gap between District of Columbia and the rest of the country is widening or narrowing.