Research Alert: March 16, 2023

Crowded Housing and Housing Cost Burden by Disability, Race, Ethnicity, and Rural-Urban Location

Although housing has been linked to health equity, what is less understood is how housing characteristics vary by geography, particularly by rural or urban location. Differences in housing characteristics among various demographics of rural and urban adults is one mechanism that can be used to better understand population-level health inequalities, especially among marginalized populations.

Key Findings:

• A higher proportion of urban adults (18.8%) live in crowded housing than rural adults (14.4%), with differences by race and ethnicity. Urban Hispanic adults have the highest proportion in crowded housing, followed by both rural Hispanic adults and rural American Indian adults.
• A higher proportion of urban adults are housing cost burdened than rural adults, meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on housing. Looking across differences by race and ethnicity reveals that one-third of rural Black Americans are housing cost burdened as well.
• Over 35% of urban adults with disabilities and nearly 30% of rural adults with disabilities are housing cost burdened.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guides: Community Supports for Rural Aging in Place and Independent Living, Rural Health Disparities, Social Determinants of Health