U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Fair market rents and income limits by county, and homelessness counts from the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.

Pages built on this source

Housing cost burden by income (HUD)

HUD's tabulation of the American Community Survey 5-year files that counts households by tenure, income as a share of the area's HUD median family income, and the share of income they pay for housing.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data
Geography: All 50 states and DC; Idaho's 44 counties
Time coverage: 2006-2010 to 2018-2022 (13 overlapping five-year windows)
Update frequency: Annual
Published: December 2025
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/cp/2018thru2022-050-csv.zip
Methodology: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/cp/CHAS/bg_chas.html
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data

Caveats

Each figure comes from the American Community Survey, a sample, pooled over five years. Windows that follow one another share four of their five years, so a change from one window to the next is not an independent measurement.
Income bands are shares of HUD Area Median Family Income (HAMFI), which HUD sets for each metropolitan area or county; a household in the same band in two places can have different dollar incomes.
A household is cost burdened when housing costs exceed 30 percent of its income and severely cost burdened when they exceed 50 percent. Housing costs are gross rent for renters and selected monthly owner costs for owners.
Households with zero or negative income have no cost burden that can be computed. As HUD does, they are left out of every percentage, including the all-incomes percentage.
HUD rounds every household count to a multiple of 5, and the margins of error for a small county are wide, so a county percentage can move several points between windows with no real change.
HUD's state and county files carry no national row, so the nation is not shown.
The count of extremely low income renters is HUD's subtotal for renters at or below 30 percent of HAMFI and includes renters with zero or negative income.
The all-incomes percentage is built from the five income bands, so it is a share of households whose burden could be computed.

Measures

Renter households paying over 30% of income on housing, by income (percent): Share of renter households spending more than 30 percent of income on gross rent and utilities, by household income as a share of HUD Area Median Family Income. Households with no computable burden are excluded. (Table 8)
Renter households paying over 50% of income on housing, by income (percent): Share of renter households spending more than half of income on gross rent and utilities, by household income as a share of HUD Area Median Family Income. Households with no computable burden are excluded. (Table 8)
Owner households paying over 30% of income on housing, by income (percent): Share of owner households spending more than 30 percent of income on selected monthly owner costs, by household income as a share of HUD Area Median Family Income. Households with no computable burden are excluded. (Table 8)
Owner households paying over 50% of income on housing, by income (percent): Share of owner households spending more than half of income on selected monthly owner costs, by household income as a share of HUD Area Median Family Income. Households with no computable burden are excluded. (Table 8)
Extremely low income renter households (count): Renter households with income at or below 30 percent of HUD Area Median Family Income. (Table 8)
Renter households paying over 50% of income on housing (count): Renter households of every income spending more than half of income on gross rent and utilities. (Table 8)

Fair market rents (HUD)

HUD's yearly estimate of what a modest rental home costs to rent, including utilities, for each county and each unit size from an efficiency to four bedrooms, used to set Housing Choice Voucher payment standards and other housing subsidies.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: Fair Market Rents
Geography: Idaho's 44 counties
Time coverage: 1983-2027
Update frequency: Annual
Published: August 31, 2026
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/FMR/FMR_All_1983_2027.csv
Methodology: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: Fair Market Rents

Caveats

A fair market rent is HUD's estimate of the gross rent, meaning rent plus tenant-paid utilities, of a modest rental home in the area. HUD sets it near the 40th percentile of what recent movers pay, so about 40 percent of such rentals cost less. It is a ceiling for housing subsidies, not the average rent and not what any listing asks.
Each figure is for a fiscal year of the federal government. HUD's fiscal year 2027 rents take effect October 1, 2026, and are computed from earlier surveys, so they trail the market.
Counties that HUD groups into one fair market rent area share a single value. Boise City's area covers four counties and Idaho Falls's covers two; the area name is given with each county's current rents.
HUD has redrawn fair market rent areas over time, so a jump between years can come from a county joining or leaving an area rather than from rents. HUD's Boise City area is its own definition and is not the Census Bureau's Boise City metropolitan area.
Through fiscal year 1994 HUD set rents at the 45th percentile; from fiscal year 1995 it uses the 40th percentile, so rents before and after are not strictly comparable. HUD's file has no figures for fiscal year 1984.
Some years move sharply because of how HUD updates its estimates: Ada County's two-bedroom rent rose 32 percent from fiscal year 2024 to 2025, then fell in each of the next two years.

Measures

Fair market rent, by number of bedrooms (usd): HUD's fair market rent per month, rent plus utilities, for a modest rental home with no bedroom (efficiency) through four bedrooms.
Fair market rent, two-bedroom home (usd): HUD's fair market rent per month, rent plus utilities, for a modest two-bedroom rental home.

Housing income limits (HUD)

The yearly income ceilings HUD sets for each county at 30, 50 and 80 percent of area median family income, which decide who qualifies for federally assisted housing, with the median they are based on.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: Income Limits
Geography: Idaho's 44 counties
Time coverage: 2016-2026
Update frequency: Annual
Published: April 16, 2026
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il26/Section8-FY26.xlsx
Methodology: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il26/IncomeLimitsMethodology-FY26.pdf
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: Income Limits

Caveats

The limits shown are for a household of four. HUD publishes a limit for each household size from one to eight people; the limit rises with household size.
HUD names the three levels low income (80 percent of the area's median family income), very low income (50 percent) and extremely low income (30 percent). Each is a ceiling on household income for housing assistance, not a typical income at that level.
HUD adjusts the limits from a straight percentage of the median in some areas, for example where housing costs are high relative to income, and sets a floor and ceiling on year-to-year change, so a limit is not always exactly 80, 50 or 30 percent of the median shown.
The extremely low limit is the greater of 30 percent of the median or the federal poverty guideline for the household size, so in the lowest-income counties it is above 30 percent.
Counties that HUD groups into one area share a single median and set of limits.
HUD's median family income is its own estimate, built from Census Bureau survey data and updated forward for inflation, and differs from the Census Bureau's published median household or family income for the county.
Each figure is for a fiscal year of the federal government. HUD publishes a year's limits in the spring of that fiscal year, which began the previous October 1.

Measures

Area median family income (HUD) (usd): HUD's estimate of the median family income for the county's income limit area, in dollars a year; the base for HUD's income limits.
Low income limit, four-person household (usd): HUD's low income limit, 80 percent of area median family income, for a household of four, in dollars a year.
Very low income limit, four-person household (usd): HUD's very low income limit, 50 percent of area median family income, for a household of four, in dollars a year.
Extremely low income limit, four-person household (usd): HUD's extremely low income limit, 30 percent of area median family income, for a household of four, in dollars a year.

Tax credit housing projects (HUD LIHTC)

Every rental housing project built or rehabilitated with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that state housing finance agencies have reported to HUD since the program began in 1987, with its location, size, year placed in service and sponsor type.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: HUD Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Database
Geography: Nation, all 50 states and DC; Idaho counties; each Idaho project
Time coverage: 1987-2024
Update frequency: Annual
Published: May 28, 2026
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/lihtc/lihtcpub.zip
Methodology: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/lihtc/property.html
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: HUD Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Database

Caveats

The database counts projects by the year they were placed in service (opened and ready to rent), not the year the credits were awarded. Credits are usually allocated one to two years earlier, so a year's count does not show that year's awards.
State housing finance agencies report projects to HUD with a lag, so the newest years are incomplete and are revised upward in later editions. The last two years are marked preliminary, and a drop in recent years is partly late reporting.
Projects stay in the database after they leave the program. Credit projects must stay affordable for at least 30 years, but some owners leave early through a qualified contract or after an extended-use period ends, and some properties are lost to foreclosure. A project no longer monitored for tax credit compliance is flagged in the list, and it may still rent at affordable rates.
Unit counts are as the state agency reported them. A project's low-income units are those restricted to households under the credit's income limits, and the rest are market-rate; HUD fills in a missing total from the low-income count, and the reverse.
Projects whose placed-in-service status HUD has not confirmed, or whose year is missing, are left out of the yearly counts and county totals. A few Idaho projects are in this group, and some Idaho projects have no county in HUD's file and are listed without one.
The county totals and bedroom mix count units in projects ever placed in service, including projects that have since left the program. Bedroom counts are shown only for the projects whose bedroom counts add up to the total.
The national figure includes Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, as HUD's file does.
The database does not say whether a unit is occupied or what rent it charges, and it does not cover housing built with other subsidies unless it also received tax credits.

Measures

Tax credit projects placed in service (count): Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects placed in service during the year, as reported to HUD by state housing finance agencies.
Tax credit housing units placed in service (count): Total housing units, low-income and market-rate, in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects placed in service during the year.
Low-income tax credit units in the county (count): Low-income units, those rented to households under the credit's income limits, in every Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project in the county placed in service through the latest year in the database, including projects that have since left the program.

Subsidized households (HUD)

Homes under contract for a federal housing subsidy, the people living in them, their incomes and their waiting times, by HUD program, as of December 31 each year, built from the tenant reports that landlords and housing agencies file with HUD.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: Picture of Subsidized Households
Geography: Nation, all 50 states and DC, Idaho's counties
Time coverage: 2014-2025
Update frequency: Annual
Published: February 18, 2026
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/pictures/files/COUNTY_2025_2020census.xlsx
Methodology: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/pictures/dictionary_2025.pdf
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: Picture of Subsidized Households

Caveats

Each figure is a December 31 snapshot. Household figures come from tenant reports with effective dates spanning about the prior 18 months, so some are older than the snapshot.
The programs counted are public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers (including project-based vouchers), Moderate Rehabilitation, Project Based Section 8, Rent Supplement and Rental Assistance Payment contracts, Section 236 and Below Market Interest Rate homes, and the Section 202 and Section 811 programs for seniors and people with disabilities. Homes built only with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and USDA Rural Development housing, are not in this dataset.
HUD hides small and poorly reported cells: a figure is left out when fewer than 11 households were reported, or when reports came in for fewer than half of occupied units. Small counties therefore show unit counts but often no people, income or waiting-time figures, and a county can drop out of a series for a year.
Idaho's county figures add up to slightly less than the state figure, because HUD reports a few units it could not place in any county only in the state total.
Units are homes under a federal subsidy contract and available for occupancy; people are everyone in those households, so one voucher can cover several people. A program with a unit count of zero but residents (for example the newest Section 811 program) shows people and no unit count.
HUD adds or retires program categories over time. Rent Supplement and Rental Assistance Payment contracts have almost ended, and Section 811 Project Rental Assistance appears only from 2025.
Waiting time is the average months between joining a waiting list and moving in. It excludes programs that do not report list dates, so most multifamily programs have no figure and the all-programs average leans toward vouchers and public housing.
Average household income is the average yearly income across subsidized households, reported to HUD at admission or annual recertification, not an income distribution.
The national figure includes Puerto Rico, Guam and the other territories.

Measures

Subsidized housing units available (count): Homes under contract for a federal HUD housing subsidy and available for occupancy, summed across HUD's programs.
Subsidized housing units, by program (count): Homes under contract for a federal HUD housing subsidy and available for occupancy, by HUD program: public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, Project Based Section 8, the Section 202 and 811 programs and others.
People living in subsidized housing (people): People in households receiving a federal HUD housing subsidy, summed across HUD's programs.
People in subsidized housing, by program (people): People in households receiving a federal HUD housing subsidy, by HUD program.
Average income of subsidized households (usd): Average total household income per year of households receiving a federal HUD housing subsidy, across HUD's programs.
Average months on the waiting list (months): Average number of months households that moved into HUD-subsidized housing during the year had spent on the waiting list, for the programs that report waiting list dates.

Homelessness point-in-time counts (HUD)

The number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in late January, counted each year by every Continuum of Care and compiled by HUD for its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress.

Organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Dataset: Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness
Geography: Nation, all 50 states and DC; Idaho's two Continuums of Care
Time coverage: 2007-2025
Update frequency: Annual
Published: May 2026
Original file: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/xls/2007-2025-PIT-Counts-by-State.xlsb
Methodology: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/
License: Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
Our copy: Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness

Caveats

The count is of one night in the last ten days of January, not of everyone who is homeless at some point during the year.
People sleeping outside are counted by volunteers who canvass on that night, and in rural areas the count misses people who are not found; sheltered people are counted from shelter records. Counts in different years and places can differ in effort and method.
The count follows HUD's definition: people in emergency shelters, transitional housing, Safe Havens, or places not meant for habitation. People staying with family or friends ("doubled up") and in motels they pay for themselves are not counted, which is a narrower definition than the one Idaho's public schools use to count homeless students.
Communities must count people sleeping outside only every other year; in a year a Continuum of Care counts only shelters, HUD carries its previous outdoor count forward.
In January 2021 many Continuums of Care, including both of Idaho's, did not count or only partly counted people sleeping outside because of the pandemic. As in HUD's own report for that year, only the sheltered counts are shown for 2021.
Idaho has two Continuums of Care: Boise/Ada County, and the Idaho Balance of State, which covers the other 43 counties and is coordinated by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.
The national figure includes Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the other territories that run a count.

Measures

People experiencing homelessness on one night in January (people): People counted as homeless on a single night in late January: in emergency shelter, transitional housing or a Safe Haven, or sleeping in a place not meant for habitation.
People experiencing homelessness, by where they stayed (people): The January count by where people were found: emergency shelter, transitional housing, a Safe Haven (low-barrier housing for people with severe mental illness), or unsheltered.
People experiencing homelessness, by Continuum of Care (people): Idaho's January count by Continuum of Care, the local body that runs the count and HUD's homeless assistance grants: Boise/Ada County, and the Idaho Balance of State, which covers every other county.

This page was last updated October 16, 2026.