MapLab: Where U.S. Housing Costs Hurt the Most

In San Francisco, the crushing pressure of the nation’s highest housing costs is on constant display. It’s in the workers who commute two hours from Santa Cruz, and the roommates advertising a closet space as an open bedroom. It’s in the homeless folks asleep beneath robot baristas prepping lattés in the financial district. (Restaurants are trying to save on labor costs, after all.)

Without question, local housing crises weigh heaviest on the poor. But nearly 18 percent of San Franciscans spend more than 50 percent of their income on their apartments, far above the one-third threshold that most financial experts consider to be wise. That suggests that the costs of keeping a roof overhead are a serious burden to a range of households.