The data on gross rent were obtained from answers to Housing Questions 13a-d and 17a in the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS). Gross rent is the contract rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas, and water and sewer) and fuels
(oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.) if these are paid by the renter (or paid for the renter by someone else). Gross rent is intended to eliminate differentials that result from varying practices with respect to the inclusion of utilities and fuels as part of the rental payment. The
estimated costs of water and sewer, and fuels are reported on a 12-month basis but are converted to monthly figures for the tabulations. Renter units occupied without payment of rent are shown separately as "No rent paid" in the tabulations.
Gross rent provides information on the monthly housing cost expenses for renters. When the data is used in conjunction with income data, the information offers an excellent measure of housing affordability and excessive shelter costs. The data also serve to aid in the
development of housing programs to meet the needs of people at different economic levels and to provide assistance to agencies in determining policies on fair rent
Adjusting Gross Rent for Inflation
To inflate gross rent amounts from previous years, the dollar values are inflated to the latest year's dollar values by multiplying by a factor equal to the average annual Consumer Price Index (CPI-U-RS) factor for the current year, divided by the average annual CPI-U-RS factor for the earlier/earliest year.
Median gross rent divides the gross rent distribution into two equal parts: one-half of the cases falling below the median gross rent and one-half above the median. Median gross rent is computed on the basis of a standard distribution. (See the "Median Standard Distributions" section in Appendix A.) Median gross rent is rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The median gross rent explanation is comparable to the description used for Median and Quartile Contract Rent. (For more information on medians, see "Derived Measures.")
Aggregate gross rent is calculated by adding together all the gross rents for all specified housing units in an area. Aggregate gross rent is rounded to the nearest hundred dollars.This explanation is comparable to the description used for Aggregate Contract Rent and Aggregate Rent Asked. (For more information, see "Aggregate" under "Derived Measures.")
Question/Concept History
Since 1996, the ACS questionnaires provided a space for the respondent to enter dollar amounts. The words "or mobile home" were added to the rent question starting in 1999 to be more inclusive of the structure type. Since 2004, gross rent has been shown for all renter-occupied housing units. In previous years (1996-2003), it was shown only for specified renter-occupied housing units.
Comparability
Data on gross rent in the 2021 ACS should not be compared to Census 2000 gross rent data. For Census 2000, tables were not released for total renter-occupied units. The universe in Census 2000 was "specified renter-occupied housing units" whereas the
universe in the 2021 ACS is "renter occupied housing units," thus comparisons cannot be made between these two data sets.
