Census 2000 counted 35.7 million renter-occupied housing units, or about one-third of the nation’s 105.5 million occupied housing units. Renter-occupied units consisted of those rented for cash payments plus those occupied by someone other than the owner without payment of cash rent; the latter usually were rent-free houses or apartments provided by friends or relatives, or for compensation for services to resident managers, ministers, and tenant farmers. Almost all rental units (95 percent) were rented for cash rent.

This report, part of a series that presents population and housing data collected from Census 2000, examines gross rent and gross rent as a percentage of household income in 1999 for specified renter-occupied housing units. It shows how these measures vary geographically (by regions, states, and large cities), by age of the householder, by race and Hispanic origin of the householder, and by some housing characteristics. This brief also examines “meals included in rent,” which is intended to gauge the extent of congregate housing. Congregate housing is generally considered to be housing units where the rent includes meals and other services, such as transportation to shopping and recreation.

Gross rent is the monthly amount of rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas, water, and sewer) and fuels (oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.). Figures 1 and 2 reproduce the Census 2000 questions about the components of gross rent. Medians in this report are computed for specified renter-occupied units paying cash rent, which exclude one-family houses on ten or more acres.

The Census Bureau initially collected gross rent data for renter-occupied housing units in 1940, the first Census of Housing. Beginning in 1950, the Census Bureau tabulated gross rent as a percentage of income to create a measure of affordability. From 1950 to 1970, income was defined as that of families and primary individuals; since 1980, the Census Bureau has used household income. The question of whether meals were included in rent was first asked in 1990.