Cost of Owning a Home in America Hits a Record $2,163 a Month, and Florida Homeowners and Renters Carry One of the Heaviest Burdens

The typical American homeowner with a mortgage paid $2,163 a month in housing costs in 2025, a 3.5% increase from the year before, according to new American Community Survey estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Scripps News, reporting the figures through WPTV, called it a record high. Florida stands out in the same data: homeowners with a mortgage in the state spend a median 25.1% of household income on housing costs, among the highest shares in the nation, and Florida renters spend 35.5% of their income on rent, the highest share among the states the bureau highlighted.

The national numbers

The Census Bureau's "Housing Costs: 2025" summary, released with the 2025 one-year American Community Survey estimates on Oct. 29, measures "selected monthly owner costs," which include mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, utilities and fees. The median for mortgaged homes rose to $2,163 from an inflation-adjusted $2,090 in 2024. The bureau said that 3.5% increase was not statistically different from the 3.8% rise between 2023 and 2024.

The bureau's key measures compare as follows, with 2024 figures adjusted for inflation:

Renters also paid more. Median gross rent, which includes utilities and fuel, reached $1,557 in 2025, a real increase of 2.0%, according to the bureau. Renters were more likely than owners to be cost burdened, defined as spending more than 30% of income on housing, in nearly every income bracket. Among households earning $35,000 to $49,999, 72.1% of renters were cost burdened, compared with 41.7% of owners. The gap narrowed at higher incomes: about 21% of owners and 26% of renters earning $75,000 to $99,999 were cost burdened, compared with about 7% of owners and 8% of renters in households earning $100,000 or more.

Insurance is the fastest-growing piece

The mortgage payment itself rose 2.4%, but insurance grew much faster. The median annual property insurance payment climbed from $1,600 to $1,738, an increase of about 8.6%, making insurance one of the fastest-growing expenses for homeowners, Scripps News reported. Nearly three in 10 homeowners now spend at least 30% of their income on housing, according to the Scripps report.

That trend is familiar in Florida, where the cost of property insurance has been one of the state's most persistent political and household issues. Insurance and property taxes are folded into many mortgage payments through escrow, so increases in either show up in the monthly bill even when a homeowner's interest rate is fixed.

Florida's burden among the highest

The Census Bureau singled out Florida in its summary. Many of the states with the highest owner cost burden were in the Northeast and West, but "in the South, Florida homeowners spent 25.1 percent of their household income on owner costs and renters spent 35.5 percent of household income on gross rent," the bureau wrote.

Among the 10 states in the bureau's table of the highest owner cost burdens, Florida's 25.1% trailed only California's 25.3%, and it was ahead of Hawaii, Colorado, Washington, New Jersey and New York. Florida's renter figure of 35.5% was the highest of any state in that table and well above the national median of 30.9%.

Florida's market this fall

Florida's sales market has cooled under high mortgage rates without a collapse in prices. Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes fell 3.5% in September from a year earlier to 20,537, while the median sale price rose 1.2% to $415,000, the seventh straight month of year-over-year gains, according to Florida Realtors. The condo and townhouse median fell to $293,500. Single-family inventory stood at a 4.4-month supply.

The third quarter showed the same pattern. Florida's single-family median sale price for July through September was $420,000, up 2.4% from a year earlier, and dollar volume for single-family sales rose nearly 7% in September even as the number of sales fell, according to Florida Realtors. New pending sales, an early signal of future closings, fell more than 7.5% in September, suggesting the slowdown could carry into the final months of the year.

Florida Realtors Chief Economist Brad O'Connor has pointed to higher mortgage rates as the main drag on single-family sales, saying the market has lost some momentum but remains relatively stable.

Nationally, sales of new single-family homes in September ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000, 0.6% below August and 5.3% below September 2025, according to Census and Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates cited by Scripps News. Redfin found that sellers outnumbered buyers by 58% in August, the biggest gap in more than a decade, Scripps reported.

Mortgage rates remain above 7%

Borrowing costs eased slightly last week but remain far higher than a year ago. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.24% as of Oct. 29, down from 7.32% the week before and the lowest level of the month, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A year earlier, the rate averaged 6.17%. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 6.60%, compared with 5.41% a year ago. Freddie Mac said the decline modestly boosted purchasing power for prospective buyers.

Property taxes on today's ballot

Property taxes, another part of monthly owner costs, are on the Florida ballot today. Amendment 3 would raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments, WSVN reported. Supporters say it would bring relief to homeowners, while critics warn it could force deep cuts to local services. Polls close at 7 p.m., and results were not available at the time of publication.

What's next

Freddie Mac will publish its next weekly rate survey on Thursday, Nov. 5, and Florida Realtors typically releases its statewide figures for a month during the following month, putting October data on track for later in November. The Census Bureau says release dates for the remaining 2025 American Community Survey products, including more detailed local data, will be announced in the coming months. For Florida households, the direction of insurance premiums, mortgage rates and the outcome of the property tax vote will shape whether the state's housing burden eases or keeps climbing in 2026.