Tampa Bay residents who make the region’s average salary of $57,500 will most likely have a hard time affording rent or purchasing a home. According to new data collected from Florida Atlantic University’s Waller, Weeks and Johnson Rental Index, Tampa is the 18^th most expensive metro area in the index with an average rent cost of $2,118.75.  
 
Based on that number, Tampa Bay residents who make less than $84,750.12 are considered “rent burdened,” spending at least 30% of their income on rent. Those who make under $50,850.07 are considered severely rent burdened, spending at least half their income on housing.
 
Since the pandemic, Tampa Bay has seen a very rapid increase not only in new residents but in rising rents. Although rents are slowing slightly, the real need is for incomes to catch up, according to Ken H. Johnson, a real estate economist at FAU’s College of Business.
 
“We have people coming in massive numbers and we’re just not building units fast enough,” he said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. “The result of that is we have both high home prices and high rent prices.”
 
Meanwhile Tampa and Miami still top other metro areas in home-price increases. Tampa saw a nearly 5% year-over-year price increase based on the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.