More than a third of Rhode Island households (143,023) pay more than 30 percent of their income toward housing costs.
There is no municipality in the state where a household earning the median homeowner income of $107,452 can buy a home affordably.
Renting the average 2-bedroom apartment costs $1,887 according to RIHousing’s 2023 Rental Survey, which would require an income of more than $75,000 to affordably rent.
The state’s median single family home price for 2023 was $425,000, which would require an estimated monthly housing payment of $3,592, and an annual income of $143,687.
Of the top 20 occupations considered by Rhode Island’s Department of Labor and Training within the “Fastest Growing Occupations, 2020-2030 Projections,” 92 percent (108,828) of these 119,000 jobs do not pay the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2023 housing wage for Rhode Island of $27.78/hour.
The median single family home price increased a range of 18 percent (Glocester) to 112 percent (Central Falls) since 2018 (inflation adjusted to 2023 dollars). Home prices in ten municipalities rose 50 percent or more: Pawtucket, Narragansett, Portsmouth, Middletown, Providence, Hopkinton, Woonsocket, Bristol, Newport, and Central Falls.
