The US is now rent-burdened nationally for the first time, according to new research from Moody's, as wage growth increasingly trails rent growth.

The national average rent-to-income (RTI) reached 30% for the first time in the more than 20 years Moody's has tracked, up 1.5% from year-ago and 0.2% from Q3. The metros with the highest rent to income ratios include New York (nearly 70%), Miami (just north of 40%), Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Tampa – St. Petersburg, San Francisco, and Orlando.

Affordability in the South Atlantic and Southwest declined most, as rents ticked up fueled by in-migration and median household incomes failed to keep pace. But "by the end of 2022, as pandemic migration ebbed and the rent growth fever broke, the South Atlantic and Southwest showed much expected signs of moderating," Moody's economists Lu Chen and Mary Le write. "The Southwest even posted 0.1% decline in its RTI in the fourth quarter."