Graph and download economic data for Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States (MSPUS) from Q1 1963 to Q1 2025 about sales, median, housing, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for United States (QUSR628BIS) from Q1 1970 to Q1 2025 about residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Average Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States (ASPUS) from Q1 1963 to Q1 2025 about sales, housing, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for California (CASTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about appraisers, CA, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Rent Payments (EC8)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Median rent payment

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Rent payments refer to the cost of leasing an apartment or home and serves as a measure of housing costs for individuals who do not own a home. The data reflect the median monthly rent paid by Bay Area households across apartments and homes of various sizes and various levels of quality. This differs from advertised rents for available apartments, which usually are higher. Note that rent can be presented using nominal or real (inflation-adjusted) dollar values; data are presented inflation-adjusted to reflect changes in household purchasing power over time.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 2 (1970)
Form STF1 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B25058 (2005-2021; median contract rent)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Rent data reflects median rent payments rather than list rents (refer to measure definition above). American Community Survey 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

1970 Census data for median rent payments has been imputed from quintiles using methodology from California Department of Finance as the source data only provided the mean, rather than the median, monthly rent. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rent payments have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for the United States (USSTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about appraisers, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for Canada (QCAR628BIS) from Q1 1970 to Q1 2025 about Canada, residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, and price.

Interactive chart of historical data showing the broad price-adjusted U.S. dollar index published by the Federal Reserve. The index is adjusted for the aggregated home inflation rates of all included currencies. The price adjustment is especially important with our Asian and South American trading partners due to their significant inflation episodes of the 80s and 90s.

In March 2025, inflation amounted to 2.4 percent, while wages grew by 4.3 percent. The inflation rate has not exceeded the rate of wage growth since January 2023. Inflation in 2022 The high rates of inflation in 2022 meant that the real terms value of American wages took a hit. Many Americans report feelings of concern over the economy and a worsening of their financial situation. The inflation situation in the United States is one that was experienced globally in 2022, mainly due to COVID-19 related supply chain constraints and disruption due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The monthly inflation rate for the U.S. reached a 40-year high in June 2022 at 9.1 percent, and annual inflation for 2022 reached eight percent. Without appropriate wage increases, Americans will continue to see a decline in their purchasing power. Wages in the U.S. Despite the level of wage growth reaching 6.7 percent in the summer of 2022, it has not been enough to curb the impact of even higher inflation rates. The federally mandated minimum wage in the United States has not increased since 2009, meaning that individuals working minimum wage jobs have taken a real terms pay cut for the last twelve years. There are discrepancies between states - the minimum wage in California can be as high as 15.50 U.S. dollars per hour, while a business in Oklahoma may be as low as two U.S. dollars per hour. However, even the higher wage rates in states like California and Washington may be lacking - one analysis found that if minimum wage had kept up with productivity, the minimum hourly wage in the U.S. should have been 22.88 dollars per hour in 2021. Additionally, the impact of decreased purchasing power due to inflation will impact different parts of society in different ways with stark contrast in average wages due to both gender and race.

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Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for Massachusetts (MASTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about MA, appraisers, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The effects of direct and indirect taxation and benefits received in cash or kind on household income, across the generations and by age.

This data is estimated by combining multiple years of the Living Costs and Food Survey from 1978 to financial year ending March 2017 and the Household Finances Statistics, from financial year ending 2018 to financial year ending 2021 with the exception of 1979 and 1981. All financial amounts are adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) excluding Council Tax, to their financial year ending March 2018. For example, the mean disposable income for those aged 35 and born in the 1970’s (£35,752) is estimated by taking the average (in real terms) of the household disposable income for these people across the combined dataset.

Graph and download economic data for Residential Property Prices for Japan (QJPN628BIS) from Q1 1955 to Q4 2024 about Japan, residential, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, and price.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for Texas (TXSTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about appraisers, HPI, TX, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for Australia (QAUR628BIS) from Q1 1970 to Q4 2024 about Australia, residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, and price.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for Utah (UTSTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about UT, appraisers, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for Minnesota (MNSTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about MN, appraisers, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA (MSA) (ATNHPIUS41740Q) from Q4 1975 to Q1 2025 about San Diego, appraisers, CA, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for Orange County, CA (ATNHPIUS06059A) from 1975 to 2024 about Orange County, CA; Los Angeles; CA; HPI; housing; price index; indexes; price; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for Spain (QESR628BIS) from Q1 1971 to Q4 2024 about Spain, residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, and price.