Cost burden weighs heavily on roommates too

Sharing with roommates is supposed to be the most affordable way to live. But new survey data from roommate matching site SpareRoom suggests the cost burden is now weighing heavily on roommates, too.

In February 2025, SpareRoom surveyed 731 US roommates and asked:

What percentage of your income - after taxes have been deducted - is spent on rent each month, not including bills?

The data revealed:

More than seven in 10 (72%) spend more than 30% of their income on rent
Only a fifth (19.8%) spend less than 30% of their income on rent
More than a third (35.6%) spend more than half their monthly income on rent
More than a third (36.4%) spend between 30% and 50% of their pay on rent

Here are the results:

% of income spent on rent each month	% of respondents
0%-9%	2.05%
10%-19%	3.42%
20%-29%	14.36%
30%-39%	21.75%
40%-49%	14.64%
50%-59%	12.86%
60%-69%	7.52%
70%-79%	7.39%
80%-89%	3.97%
90%-100%	3.83%

Source: SpareRoom.com survey, Feb 2025

Matt Hutchinson, spokesperson for SpareRoom, says: “Sharing with roommates has always been the cheapest option for renters on a budget. But 'affordable' is a relative term and renters are feeling increasingly stretched as rents rise faster than wages and the proportion of their income that goes on housing follows suit. The traditional threshold for being rent burdened has always been 30%, but that's simply not realistic in most major cities any more.”