Rent-to-Wage Gap Widens in Region
As Costs, Prices Rise for Median Earners
NEWBURGH, NY—The latest report by a regional think group found that for many living in the Hudson Valley the price tag for housing continues to be out of reach. The analysis of wages to meet both rental and home ownership costs found that the affordability gap is growing worse.
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress and its Center for Housing Solutions & Community Initiatives recently released its annual Out of Reach 2025 Report, which is based largely on data published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. It compared fair-market rents with average renter wages to arrive at the “Rent Gap”—the difference between fair market rental costs and rents that would be affordable to tenants earning average wages.
The report also compared 2024 home sales prices and Area Median Incomes throughout the Hudson Valley to provide what it called the “Mortgage Gap,” which shows the challenges faced by median earners trying to buy their first home in the Hudson Valley.
Out of Reach 2025 found that the cost of housing in the Hudson Valley continues to rise faster than wages for renters and buyers. Over the five-year period from 2020 through 2025, the average rent gap grew steadily in nearly every county: Ulster increased by $388 (59%); Westchester by $454 (47%); Columbia by $222 (54%); Sullivan saw a sharp year-over-year jump of $141 (48%).
For the first time this year, two working adults sharing the cost of rent in Westchester cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs, the report stated.
Adam Bosch, president and CEO of Hudson Valley PFP, said, “Our latest report shows that our housing crisis in the Hudson Valley is deepening, and that our civic leaders must continue to collaborate on viable solutions to produce more housing and promote affordability. The exorbitant cost of homeownership is beyond the reach of most of our neighbors.”
Mr. Bosch added, “Rent continues to rise much faster than tenant wages. And many of our working neighbors—filling necessary and honorable jobs in our communities—are now living on public assistance in hotels because they cannot find housing at a modest cost.”
He said there should be a call to action to tackle the risks associated with this trend of a shrinking workforce, fewer customers for local businesses and greater migration out of the region. “These are too big for us not to act in the interest of the entire region.”
The report noted, “Given the high cost of new construction, many regional stakeholders worry that stricter affordability mandates could unintentionally stifle development. Tackling this crisis demands a broader toolkit—one that mixes traditional interventions with new, bold, flexible solutions.
Among the solutions are “to preserve existing affordable homes, support cooperative ownership and community land trusts, enable the construction of smaller homes on smaller lots, expand zoning to accommodate mobile and tiny home communities, require landlords to accept housing vouchers, and redefine affordability benchmarks based on actual renter incomes—not medians skewed by high-earning homeowners.”
To read the full Out of Reach 2025 report, go to: https://www.pattern-for-progress.org/portfolio/out-of-reach-2025/
By John Jordan
Published: August 13, 2025