The cost to affordably buy a median-priced home, or rent a median-priced apartment, now far exceeds the income of the average person looking to do so. And that reality holds true whether you are looking to live in Woonsocket, Little Compton, or anywhere in between.

The 2025 Housing Fact Book, released last week by HousingWorks RI — a research hub based out of Roger Williams University in Bristol that strives to “inform public policy, develop communications strategies, and promote dialogue about the relationship between housing and the state’s economic future and residents’ well-being” — painted the bleakest picture of the state’s affordable housing situation yet.

“In 2024…analysis noted the first time Rhode Islanders required an income of more than $100,000 to affordably buy a home in every Rhode Island municipality,” the report’s executive summary reads. “While that continues to be the case, this year it is now also true that renting—for the first time—requires an income that exceeds the renter median income ($48,434) to affordably rent in every municipality.”

According to the fact book, the cost of a median-priced, single-family home in Rhode Island is now $475,000, requiring a monthly housing payment (on average) of $3,957. That represents a 64 percent increase over 2019, when the median-priced home was $288,792 in the state. For context, a $475,000 home would require a household income of $158,263 to afford.

The median household income of all Rhode Islanders, per the fact book, is $86,372. For homeowners, the median income was $112,858.

“Based on 2024 median single family home prices, a household would need an annual income close to $130,000 to affordably buy a home in any Rhode Island municipality,” the report reads. “This exceeds the median household income by more than $40,000 and median owner income by more than $17,000.”

The rental situation is no sunnier.

According to the data the average, two-bedroom rental in Rhode Island now costs $2,316 a month, representing a 16 percent increase over 2019, when the average rent was $1,988. A $2,316 per month rent would require a household income of $92,640 to afford without hardship.

The average annual household income for a renter in Rhode Island, meanwhile, is just $48,434.

“Since 2018, wages have grown by less than 30 percent but housing costs in the Ocean State have increased by over 60 percent,” the report reads. “More recently, Rhode Island’s single family home prices have jumped higher and faster than anywhere else in the country and rental increases are currently the steepest in New England.”

Comparing prices
The most “affordable” place to buy a home in Rhode Island, per the data, is Pawtucket, which would require a $128,635 household income to buy a median-priced home. That is followed by Woonsocket, West Warwick, Central Falls, Warwick, Coventry, East Providence, North Providence, Cranston, and Burrillville to round out the top 10.

Block Island is by far the most expensive community to own a home, requiring a $521,723 annual household income to purchase a median priced home.

The top 10 most expensive communities (excluding Block Island) to buy a median-priced home in Rhode Island are: Jamestown ($357,068 annual income required); Newport ($307,638); Little Compton ($277,754); Narragansett ($265,655); East Greenwich ($264,823); Barrington ($249,379); Middletown ($226,456); Portsmouth ($219,420); North Kingstown ($208,277); and West Greenwich ($205,191).

In terms of East Bay municipalities, East Providence is the most “affordable”, requiring an income of $143,048 to but a median-priced home. That is followed by Tiverton ($149,159); Warren ($174,943); Bristol ($191,440); Portsmouth ($219,420); Barrington ($249,379); and Little Compton ($277,754).

The cheapest place to find a rental apartment, per the data, is Westerly (requiring a $60,320 income to affordably rent a two-bedroom apartment). That is followed by Woonsocket ($62,680); Central Falls ($67,520); Lincoln ($76,440); Pawtucket ($78,080); Bristol and East Greenwich (both $80,080); Newport ($81,960); Smithfield ($82,120); and Coventry ($83,520) to round out the top 10.

East Providence, in contrast to being the seventh-most affordable Rhode Island municipality to buy a home, was found to be the eighth-most expensive place to rent in Rhode Island, requiring an income of $94,800 to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

Fourteen municipalities, including Barrington and Little Compton, did not have sufficient rental data to be included in this ranking of rental costs.

One-third of households are cost burdened
The report found that, consistent with prior years, a full one-third of Rhode Island households (142,920 of 436,902 total) are “cost burdened”, meaning they spend more than one-third of their total annual income on housing costs. In the most recent data, they found that 44 percent of those cost-burdened households (62,237) are severely cost-burdened, meaning that they spend over 50 percent of their annual income on housing.

These figures get worse when separated by ethnicity. More than a third of Black home owners (35 percent) and Hispanic homeowners (39 percent) are cost-burdened, compared to 24 percent of white homeowners and 19 percent of Asian homeowners.

The data also reveals that it is not just young people looking for homes that aren’t making enough money. Nearly 30 percent of the more than 60,000 severely cost-burdened households in Rhode Island (18,475) are mortgaged homeowners with incomes under $68,000, commonly elderly people on fixed incomes.

The majority of severely cost-burdened households (37,466) are those without a mortgage, and renters making annual household incomes less than $40,000.

Housing production is up, but more investment needed
While the report recognizes that the Rhode Island legislature has spent the last three years passing numerous laws intended to boost housing production in the state in the hopes to better meet demand and drive down costs, the data also revealed that more work, and monetary investment, is needed.

On the good side, the report states that more than $330 million in pandemic-related funding went to the creation of more than 1,835 new affordable homes, enabling 1,672 people to become new homeowners, and the creation of 1,400 shelter beds for those experiencing homelessness.

However, the report found that overall, more than 80 percent of the state’s $44 million in efforts to bolster affordable housing for the federal program year that ended on June 30, 2024 came from federal funding sources, creating a precarious situation when it comes to the future availability of those funds.

“With…the uncertainty of future federal funding, it is crucial that state investments include permanent streams of revenue to continue forward momentum,” the report states.

It goes on to praise the recent creation of a five-year pilot program, infused with $30 million initially, to create a low-income housing state tax credit program, as well as the $120 million state housing bond that passed in the 2024 election.

The report showed that, while the state saw 2,818 total housing permits issued in 2024 (a 15 percent increase over 2023), a large chunk of that was due to a 25 percent increase in single-family home permits.

Multifamily home permits, which do more to address the widespread need of housing, only increased by 3 percent in the same span. Furthermore, the state saw 130 fewer multifamily permits in Q1 of 2025 than in Q1 of 2024.

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which since late 2024 have been made easier to be built by-right by homeowners to provide additional housing units on existing parcels, showed a significant albeit still small increase in the overall number of permits — from 28 in 2023, to 163 in 2024.

Overall, the report showed that only eight municipalities in Rhode Island have achieved the state’s goal for each city and town to have 10 percent of its total housing stock be deemed “affordable”. Those municipalities are: Burrillville (10.19 percent); Central Falls (17.76 percent); East Providence (10.64 percent); Newport (17.27 percent); Pawtucket (10.41 percent); Providence (16.59 percent); West Warwick (10.6 percent); and Woonsocket (17.09 percent).