This measure divides the selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income distribution into two equal parts: one-half of the cases falling below the median selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income and one-half above the median. Median selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income is computed on the basis of a standard distribution. (See the "Standard Distributions" section under Appendix A.) Median selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income is rounded to the nearest tenth. (For more information on medians, see "Derived Measures.")

Comparability

Caution should be used when comparing selected monthly owner costs as a percentage of household income data between the American Community Survey and Census 2000. For Census 2000, tables for both total owner-occupied housing units and specified owner-occupied housing units were released, thus comparisons can be made only when comparing the same universes between the two data sets. Additionally, for Census 2000 tables with full distributions were released for total owner-occupied housing units but medians were not shown.