Rents Are Falling. So Why Are More Middle-Income Renters Falling Behind?

For nearly three years, asking rents across the country’s largest metros have been falling—and yet, renters are having more trouble paying them than ever before.One in five working-age renters reported being late or unable to make their full rent payment at some point in 2025, according to a new analysis of the Urban Institute’s (UI) Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS).That was up from 16.5% in 2024 to 20% in 2025—and marked the first statistically significant year-over-year increase since the survey began tracking the measure in 2017.“That means the jump is unlikely to be a fluke of who happened to answer the survey,” explains Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com®. “It's the first clear rise since the survey began tracking this measure in 2017, rather than the normal year-to-year fluctuation.”But the timing is surprising. By the end of 2025, asking rents had been falling year over year for 37 straight months across the 50 largest metros, according to the latest Rent Report from Realtor.com.And while lower-income renters remained the most likely to have trouble paying rent, it was middle-income renters who saw the sharpest year-over-year deterioration.“The gap between...