Housing costs make up the single largest share of spending for a typical household in the United States. When a household spends more than 30 percent of its income on housing, that household is considered “housing cost burdened”— the point at which housing costs are considered unaffordable. And when a household spends more than half of its income on housing, it is considered “severely housing cost burdened.” The number and rate of households that are housing cost burdened are increasing—and are particularly high among renters and households with low incomes.

Most Hispanic children in families with low incomes—in other words, in families whose incomes fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold (or the federal poverty level, FPL)—live in unaffordable housing, according to our new analysis of the 2023 American Community Survey. As shown in Figure 1, more than two thirds (69%) of Hispanic children in families with low incomes live in households that are housing cost burdened, and two in five (40%) Hispanic children in families with low incomes live in households that are severely housing cost-burdened.

Housing cost burden is more common among Hispanic children whose families are renters. Among those who rent their homes, almost 8 in 10 (79%) Hispanic children in families with low incomes are housing cost burdened; among those who own their homes, just over half (53%) are.

Housing cost burden is slightly less common among Hispanic children in immigrant families (meaning families in which at least one parent was born outside the United States) with low incomes than among children who live with only U.S.-born parents. Overall, irrespective of family income, 41 percent of all Hispanic children live in households that are housing cost burdened and 20 percent live in households that are severely housing cost-burdened (see Table A).

Figure 1. Most Hispanic children in families with low incomes live in unaffordable housing.
Percentage of Hispanic children in families with low incomes who are housing cost burdened, by whether their housing is owned or rented, 2023

Children living in households that are cost-burdened are more likely to experience material hardship, as well as instability in their housing, and are at increased risk of adverse academic, behavioral, and health outcomes—which can get in the way of socioeconomic mobility. They are also more likely to live in poorer-quality housing and in higher-poverty neighborhoods with poorer-quality schools. Additionally, housing cost burden is associated with increased parental stress, which in turn impacts how parents engage with their children. Affordable, stable housing supports children’s long-term health and well-being.

A range of federal programs support affordable housing, including several administered by the Administration for Children and Families. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) can help families with children pay for rent, utilities, and other housing-related necessities, with some states using TANF funds specifically to help families experiencing—or at risk of—housing instability. Recent changes to Head Start Program Performance Standards now allow programs to consider excessive housing costs (using the same 30% threshold) when determining families’ eligibility for Head Start. Additionally, many households with Housing Choice Vouchers also face child care cost burdens, highlighting the importance of Child Care and Development Fund subsidies in supporting comprehensive family stability. Focused investments to increase the housing supply and strengthen these support programs are an effective and practical way to support the well-being and economic stability of children and families.

Methods

For this analysis, we used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 nationally representative American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year samples, obtained from IPUMS USA. We define Hispanic children as children under age 18 for whom a Latino, Hispanic, or Spanish origin was reported, regardless of race. There are 130,354 Hispanic children in the unweighted sample, including 54,910 Hispanic children in families with low incomes. Our analyses excluded Hispanic children living in group quarters, with missing poverty data, and without any data on parental nativity or household income. Following the U.S. Census Bureau’s approach to calculating housing cost burden, we also excluded households with no or negative (i.e., net loss) household income, and those in renter households with “no cash rent” (typically people in military housing, housing provided with employment or in exchange for services, or housing provided for free by friends or family; see the 2023 ACS Subject Definitions for more detail).

To estimate housing cost burden and severe housing cost burden, we used the U.S. Census Bureau’s measures of “selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income” (for homeowners) and “gross rent as a percentage of household income” (for renters). Gross rent includes both contract rent (the rent asked for the rental unit) and the estimated average monthly utility and fuel costs (electricity, gas, water, oil, etc.). Selected monthly owner costs include “the sum of payments for mortgages, deeds of trust, contracts to purchase, or similar debts on the property […]; real estate taxes; fire, hazard, and flood insurance on the property”; utilities; and fuels. Where applicable, these costs also include condominium fees and mobile home costs. Households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs (i.e., their selected monthly owner costs or their gross rent as a percentage of household income) are considered “housing cost burdened.” Households that spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing are considered “severely housing cost burdened.” Our overall housing cost burden and severe housing cost burden measures combine data for homeowner and renter households. See the 2023 ACS Subject Definitions for more detail.

We created the category of families with low incomes using the IPUMS-constructed poverty variable, which calculates each person’s family income as a percentage of their family’s poverty threshold (see this summary of the poverty measure in IPUMS). We also show estimates according to whether children’s coresidential parents were born in the United States—i.e., their nativity—using two categories: 1) at least one parent in the household was born in another country or 2) all parents in the household are U.S.-born. For children with only one parent in the household, parental nativity was assigned based on the nativity of that parent alone.

Table A. Percentage of Hispanic children in housing cost-burdened and severely housing cost-burdened households, by whether their parents were born in the United States, for all family incomes and for families with incomes below 200% FPL

Suggested Citation

Wildsmith, E., Alvira-Hammond, M., & Thomson, D. (2025). Most Hispanic children in families with low incomes live in unaffordable housing. National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families. DOI: 10.59377/278g6102m