How much of your income goes to rent?

Produced by Brian Frank | Aug. 29, 2017

For years, financial planners used a 30 percent threshold as a rule of thumb for renters: no more than 30 percent of your gross income should go to rent. But for many these days, the 30 percent rule is a distant fantasy. More than half of the renters in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties are above that 30 percent threshold, according to the latest estimates available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Using the map below, explore how much people are paying for rent in different neighborhoods, shown here by "zip code tabulation area," a designation similar to zip codes used by the Census. The numbers are based on the median gross rent as a percent of income — that means half the renters pay above, and half below, the amount shown.