22.9% of renters said they had been behind on their rent at some point in the past year, in the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey of household finances. The Fed rounds this to 23%, up from 21% in 2024 and 17% in 2021, when pandemic protections for renters were in place. Renters were about 27% of adults in the survey, so roughly 6% of all adults fell behind on rent.
Lower-income renters were much more likely to fall behind: 32.6% of renters with family income under $25,000, against 5.0% of those with $100,000 or more. By age, the share was about one in four for renters under 55 and 2.8% for those 75 and older.
Renters behind on rent, by group (2025)
| Group | Category | Renters behind on rent in the past year | Survey respondents |
|---|---|---|---|
| All renters | 22.9% | 3,426 | |
| Less than $25,000 | Family income | 32.6% | 1,092 |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | Family income | 30.6% | 817 |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | Family income | 17.2% | 927 |
| $100,000 or more | Family income | 5.0% | 590 |
| 18-24 | Age | 26.8% | 387 |
| 25-34 | Age | 25.4% | 927 |
| 35-44 | Age | 25.2% | 739 |
| 45-54 | Age | 26.5% | 469 |
| 55-64 | Age | 15.8% | 400 |
| 65-74 | Age | 11.6% | 325 |
| 75 and older | Age | 2.8% | 179 |
| White | Race and ethnicity | 14.9% | 1,737 |
| Black | Race and ethnicity | 32.7% | 681 |
| Hispanic | Race and ethnicity | 30.3% | 721 |
| Asian | Race and ethnicity | 11.5% | 160 |
| Other | Race and ethnicity | 28.1% | 127 |
Our weighted tabulation of the Fed’s public survey file, using the survey weight. The Fed’s own report gives 33%, 31%, 17% and 5% for the four income groups, matching ours after rounding. Small groups, such as renters 75 and older (179 respondents), have wide margins of error.
The trend
| Survey year | Renters behind on rent (Fed published) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 17% |
| 2022 | 17% |
| 2023 | 19% |
| 2024 | 21% |
| 2025 | 23% |
Percent of renters, as published by the Federal Reserve (figure 36 of the 2025 report).
What this counts
The Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking asked about 12,900 adults in October 2025. Those who said they pay rent were asked, "Have you been behind on your rent at any time in the past year?" Being behind for a day and being behind for months both count as yes. The survey is weighted to represent U.S. adults, and its answers carry sampling error. Rent is usually not reported to the credit bureaus; in the same survey 8% of renters said their payments were reported to a bureau.
Source
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking 2025, public-use data file (question R11) and codebook, and the report Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (May 2026). Downloaded October 16, 2026. Federal Reserve data are public domain. Our tables are available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Renters Behind on Rent," My Credit Guide, October 16, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/behind-on-rent/.