[joestrouth1]

Before my time but HUD upped the rent cap on affordable/public housing to 30% of income in 1980. Even 1/3rd's a stretch for most folks in most places in the US. A 25% rule of thumb isn't much use if folks can't find housing that meets the bar.

[aidenn0]

Meanwhile in areas where housing is absurdly expensive, other things aren't as expensive, so 1/2 is totally doable. E.g. if a studio is $2000/mo you have $24k/year for all other expenses, which is probably fine?

[joestrouth1]

What places are those? When I think of cities with expensive housing (NYC, LA, SF, Boston, London, etc) they typically also have higher taxes, fuel prices, food, etc. Maybe you can swap a costly car for public transit?

[aidenn0]

I've never lived in those, but my sister lived in Boston and didn't own a car.

Income tax is progressive, so a higher income tax is probably less relevant to you if you are housing-insecure. Sales tax is regressive, but is maybe 700bp higher in places with high sales tax, so much less than the 50% bump between 1/3 and 1/2 your income. As far as food goes, if you eat out, that's way more expensive, but groceries are a much smaller difference.