State or territory · Census 2020–2024
Median rent and rent burden in Massachusetts
- Median monthly gross rent
- $1,762 ± $9 margin
- Rent burden · 30% or more
- 51.8% ± 0.5 percentage points
- Severe burden · 50% or more
- 26.1% ± 0.4 percentage points
How much income would keep this rent at 30%?
The area’s median gross rent would equal 30% of an annual household income of $70,480. The calculation multiplies monthly rent by 12 and divides by 0.30.
Compare with broader areas
| Area | Median gross rent ± margin | Rent burden | Severe burden |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $1,762 ± $9 | 51.8% | 26.1% |
| United States | $1,413 ± $2 | 51.1% | 25.9% |
Browse counties in Massachusetts
- Barnstable County$1,678 median gross rent · 59.7% rent burden
- Berkshire County$1,097 median gross rent · 54% rent burden
- Bristol County$1,245 median gross rent · 52.2% rent burden
- Dukes County$1,277 median gross rent · 46.9% rent burden
- Essex County$1,756 median gross rent · 56.8% rent burden
- Franklin County$1,177 median gross rent · 57.4% rent burden
- Hampden County$1,136 median gross rent · 54% rent burden
- Hampshire County$1,388 median gross rent · 56.6% rent burden
- Middlesex County$2,201 median gross rent · 47.1% rent burden
- Norfolk County$2,149 median gross rent · 51.4% rent burden
- Plymouth County$1,747 median gross rent · 54.8% rent burden
- Suffolk County$2,129 median gross rent · 52% rent burden
- Worcester County$1,426 median gross rent · 50.6% rent burden
Data and definitions
How to read the estimates
The Census Bureau’s 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year release provides these survey estimates. America.co matched Census rent tables by geography ID and used the Gazetteer’s representative points to calculate straight-line distance.
- Gross rent includes contract rent and utilities or fuels paid separately. The median describes cash-rent homes surveyed during this period.
- Rent burden means gross rent was at least 30% of household income. Severe rent burden means at least 50%. Both shares use only cash-rent households for which Census could compute the ratio.
- Margins use the Census 90% confidence level. The rent margin is published by Census. The burden margins are approximate and combine the published category margins using the Census sum and proportion formulas. County and ZIP-area pages require at least 100 estimated households with a computed ratio, a rent margin at most 35% of the estimate, and a rent-burden margin of 20 percentage points or less.
- ZIP areas are Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas. A mailing ZIP can differ or have no corresponding Census area. Distances are straight-line distances between representative points.
B25064 for this geography · B25070 for this geography · ACS downloads · Census Gazetteer · Census definitions · Margin-of-error methods · Download the comparison data