JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An analysis by RentCafe found that nearly 310,000 affordable apartments were built nationwide between 2020 and 2024, an unprecedented surge that included about 91,000 income-restricted units completed in 2024 alone.
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The five-year total — which accounts for roughly 12.6 percent of all newly built apartments over that period — represents a 73 percent increase in affordable housing completions compared with 2015–2019. That rise far outpaced the 36 percent growth in overall apartment construction between the two five-year periods.
More than 91,000 affordable apartments completed in 2024 made it the single largest annual contribution to affordable housing construction in the past decade, RentCafe’s 10-year review shows. The share of newly built apartments that were income-restricted also increased sharply: nearly 14 percent in 2024, up from just under 9 percent a decade earlier.
Growth was widespread but uneven. Large coastal markets such as Seattle and New York registered substantial output, while fast-growing Sun Belt metros emerged as major contributors.
San Antonio, Phoenix and Charlotte recorded the fastest growth in affordable housing among major U.S. metros, and Austin and San Antonio each saw completed affordable apartments more than double over the decade, RentCafe found.
Policy and funding changes helped drive the surge. The American Rescue Plan directed billions to housing through State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, and many states introduced or expanded tax credit programs that made projects more feasible as construction costs rose.
The federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit continued to play a central role, and the adoption of income averaging gave developers more flexibility to mix units serving a wider range of incomes while still meeting affordability requirements.
RentCafe said its findings are based on an analysis of affordable housing construction over the past 10 years, comparing completions and trends across U.S. metros. The numbers underscore a growing emphasis on producing income-restricted units even as challenges remain in meeting the nationwide need for affordable rental housing.