Interactive tool · Companion to The Affordability Divide
Explore the Census data behind The Affordability Divide: how many renters and homeowners spend 30% or more of income on housing in 13 DC, Maryland and Virginia localities, and how real incomes and rents changed between 2022 and 2025.
Order is never by value: these are survey estimates, and differences between localities have not been tested for statistical significance. Select a locality name to load it into the comparison below.
Section 1
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2025 1-year, Tables B25070 (renters) and B25091 (owners, with and without a mortgage). "Not computed" households are excluded from denominators. Margins of error are approximate (derived-proportion formula) and are widest for smaller localities — up to ±17.4 points for Calvert renters.
Section 2
Bars left of zero are declines. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 and 2025 1-year, Tables B19013 (median household income) and B25058 (median contract rent; excludes utilities). 2022 values converted to 2025 dollars with the national annual-average CPI-U. The paper does not report margins of error for these changes, so none are shown; differences are not tested for significance.
Section 3
Side-by-side estimates with their approximate 90% ranges. Ranges that overlap — or don't — are a visual guide only, not a statistical test.
Locality A
Locality B
Renter cost burden, 2025
District of Columbia: 49.18%, approximate range 45.68% to 52.68%. Montgomery County, MD: 50.71%, approximate range 46.91% to 54.51%.
Owner cost burden, 2025
District of Columbia: 24.29%, approximate range 21.49% to 27.09%. Montgomery County, MD: 23.88%, approximate range 22.18% to 25.58%.
These are approximate 90% ranges, derived from published Census margins. Whether two ranges overlap is not a formal significance test, and the paper ran no pairwise tests — so neither locality should be called "higher" or "lower" on this basis alone.
Section 4
The same 13-locality values published in the paper, listed alphabetically. The download is generated in your browser from these values.
| Locality | FIPS | Renters cost-burdened, 2025 | 90% MOE (pts) | Owners cost-burdened, 2025 | 90% MOE (pts) | Real income change, 2022–25 | Real contract rent change, 2022–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alexandria, VA | 51510 | 51.22% | ±7.5 | 28.70% | ±4.9 | −7.72% | +0.80% |
| Arlington County, VA | 51013 | 42.26% | ±5.1 | 21.84% | ±3.8 | −0.58% | +6.57% |
| Calvert County, MD | 24009 | 46.79% | ±17.4 | 23.40% | ±5.7 | −1.48% | +8.85% |
| Charles County, MD | 24017 | 64.65% | ±13.1 | 29.01% | ±6.4 | −2.10% | +4.36% |
| District of Columbia | 11001 | 49.18% | ±3.5 | 24.29% | ±2.8 | −1.47% | +1.29% |
| Fairfax County, VA | 51059 | 43.89% | ±3.7 | 21.87% | ±1.6 | +0.25% | +3.47% |
| Frederick County, MD | 24021 | 58.68% | ±7.3 | 21.58% | ±2.8 | −3.74% | +10.90% |
| Loudoun County, VA | 51107 | 40.10% | ±5.7 | 21.03% | ±2.5 | +4.83% | +9.32% |
| Montgomery County, MD | 24031 | 50.71% | ±3.8 | 23.88% | ±1.7 | +2.74% | +3.67% |
| Prince George's County, MD | 24033 | 50.70% | ±4.9 | 29.00% | ±2.3 | +1.25% | +3.62% |
| Prince William County, VA | 51153 | 47.99% | ±6.7 | 18.75% | ±2.7 | +12.01% | +8.58% |
| Spotsylvania County, VA | 51177 | 51.36% | ±9.9 | 25.15% | ±3.9 | +4.32% | +3.14% |
| Stafford County, VA | 51179 | 43.10% | ±10.5 | 22.03% | ±4.4 | +2.12% | +14.38% |
Definitions
Census definitions, as used in the paper.
A household whose housing costs are 30% or more of its income. Shares are counted only among households with a computable housing-cost-to-income ratio.
Households whose ratio cannot be calculated — for example, those with no or negative income, or renters paying no cash rent. The Census reports them separately; they are excluded from both numerator and denominator.
Gross rent — contract rent plus estimated utilities and fuels — as a percentage of household income. Cells 007–010 (30% or more) divided by the total minus cell 011 (not computed).
Selected monthly owner costs (mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, utilities, fees) as a percentage of income, for owners with and without a mortgage. Cells 008–011 and 019–022 divided by the total minus 012 and 023.
The middle household income in each locality and year. The 2022 and 2025 medians describe different sets of households.
The middle monthly rent agreed to by renters, excluding utilities. It is not advertised or asking rent for a vacant unit.
2022 values multiplied by 321.943 / 292.655 (≈ 1.1001), the national annual-average CPI-U. Not a local housing price index.
Approximate 90% margins, derived from published Census cell margins with the Census Bureau's formula for derived proportions. Shown only for the burden shares.
Method & limitations
Every value comes from the published paper's verified dataset. Nothing here is modeled, forecast, or filled in.
13 county-equivalents chosen for the paper — the District of Columbia; Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland; Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia. Not the entire DMV. "Fairfax" means Fairfax County.
Localities are listed alphabetically or by jurisdiction, never by value. Margins are wide for smaller localities (up to ±17.4 points), and no pairwise significance tests were run.
Renters and owners are different populations. Income and rent changes compare separate survey medians in 2022 and 2025; they do not follow the same households and do not show that one caused the other.
The ACS describes current residents, including owners whose costs reflect earlier purchase prices and financing. It is not the cost of entering the market today.
Zillow and Redfin publish Washington-metro series only, so no county values from them appear here. HUD CHAS 2018–2022 data give historical context in the paper but are pooled estimates for a different period and are not charted. Home values are not shown.
For a purchase-payment calculator, see the Housing Affordability Explorer. This tool computes no payments and makes no affordability verdicts.
On November 3, 2026, all 52 locality values were recomputed from the Census Bureau's table-based summary files and matched to two decimals; an independent audit matched all 26 burden counts, denominators and rates.