Every year before the Rent Guidelines Board votes on rent increases for the city's roughly one million stabilized apartments, its research staff produces two competing pictures of the same housing market: one of what it costs landlords to operate rent-stabilized buildings, and one of what tenants can actually afford to pay. The board's 2026 Income and Affordability Study is the tenant-side half of that picture, and the numbers in it explain, more clearly than any press conference, why this year's vote ended in a freeze.
The headline numbers
Key findings
- 51.6% of rent-stabilized renter households pay 30%+ of income toward rent ("rent-burdened").
- Nearly 30% of that group pay half or more of their income on rent ("severely rent-burdened").
- Citywide unemployment rose to 5.2% in 2025.
- Residential evictions increased 9.7% citywide over the same period.
- Landlord operating costs (PIOC) rose 5.3%, nearly double the 2.7% inflation rate; insurance alone rose 10.5%.
The study found that 51.6% of renter households in rent-stabilized housing pay 30% or more of their income toward rent — the standard threshold researchers use to define being "rent-burdened." Within that group, nearly 30% are paying half or more of their income on rent, a level typically classified as "severely rent-burdened," where a single missed paycheck or unexpected expense can be the difference between staying housed and falling behind.
Two other figures from the same research period round out the picture: citywide unemployment rose to 5.2% in 2025, and residential evictions increased 9.7% citywide over the same window. None of these numbers move in isolation — rising unemployment feeds directly into rent burden, and rent burden, sustained long enough, feeds into eviction filings.
The arrears problem
A separate but related data point comes from the Community Service Society, a tenant-advocacy research nonprofit that surveyed rent-stabilized tenants in fall 2025: more than one in four reported owing back rent. That figure matters because it's a leading indicator — tenants who owe arrears are tenants at risk of a nonpayment eviction filing, and arrears tend to compound the longer a case takes to resolve in Housing Court.
The same research found that rent-stabilized tenants experienced a 12.6% cumulative rent increase over the prior mayoral administration — several times larger than the cumulative increases tenants saw under the two administrations before it. That's the context the board's affordability study sits inside: years of compounding increases landing on a tenant population where over half is already paying more than the standard affordability threshold.
The other side of the ledger
The Rent Guidelines Board doesn't only study tenants — it also tracks what it costs landlords to run these buildings, through its annual Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC). This year's index showed operating costs for rent-stabilized buildings rose 5.3%, nearly double the citywide inflation rate of 2.7%. Insurance was the single fastest-growing line item within that index, up 10.5% — a cost pressure significant enough that the city has since launched a dedicated insurance program aimed specifically at bringing those premiums down.
This is the tension the board has to resolve every June: tenant affordability data showing more than half of renters already burdened, against operating-cost data showing real expense growth for owners. In most recent years, the board split the difference with modest increases. In 2026, with six of nine board members newly appointed by a mayor who campaigned explicitly on freezing the rent, the board weighted the affordability side of that ledger more heavily than it had in years — landing on the first-ever 0% guideline for both one-year and two-year leases, covered in detail here.
Why this data matters beyond one vote
The Income and Affordability Study isn't a one-time document tied to this year's vote — it's an annual measurement the board is statutorily required to produce, and it will shape next year's debate too. If unemployment continues rising or eviction filings keep climbing, that data will be part of the record going into the 2027 guidelines cycle, regardless of who sits on the board by then.
For an individual tenant, the aggregate numbers are less useful than your own situation — but they're a useful gut check. If you're spending close to a third of your income on rent, you're not an outlier; you're the median rent-stabilized tenant in New York City as of this survey. If you're spending half or more, you're in the company of roughly three in ten of your fellow stabilized tenants, and it may be worth looking into what protections and assistance programs — rent freezes for seniors and people with disabilities, one-shot emergency assistance, Right to Counsel in Housing Court — actually apply to your situation before a missed payment becomes a court date.
This study is one piece of a larger story; our NYC rent stabilization resource center brings together the freeze it helped drive, the tenant-side programs, and how to check your own status.
Related: What It Costs to Live in America’s "Best City" — the cost-of-living backdrop to these affordability numbers.
Weverit provides independent, tenant-side research from New York City public records. This article reports on public Rent Guidelines Board and Community Service Society research and is not financial or legal advice.
