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  "description": "Previously, we explored the neighborhood affordability branch of our Neighborhood Deep-Dive Datasets and determined that the rental affordability threshold for 50% of MHI (50MHI) households aligns with semi-disadvantaged neighborhood contexts. The neighborhood that we determined to be the closest match for this affordability threshold is a semi-disadvantaged neighborhood with a stratification score of 2.51. This… ",
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  "publishedAt": "2026-07-01T17:01:09+00:00",
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  "textContent": "Previously, we explored the neighborhood affordability branch of our Neighborhood Deep-Dive Datasets and determined that the rental affordability threshold for 50% of MHI (50MHI) households aligns with semi-disadvantaged neighborhood contexts. The neighborhood that we determined to be the closest match for this affordability threshold is a semi-disadvantaged neighborhood with a stratification score of 2.51. This finding led to further exploring the profile of both semi-disadvantaged neighborhoods overall and the semi-disadvantaged neighborhoods that are within 50MHI affordability. Well, it’s one thing to outline a best case scenario of 50MHI neighborhood affordability and another thing to evaluate the neighborhood conditions that are currently associated with this income group. When we simply look at the neighborhood that is the closest match for this group of households, a distinct picture emerges. This closest match neighborhood has an MHI of $47,779 and a stratification (STRAT) score of 1.99, which is below the 2.25 minimum score to be included with semi-disadvantaged neighborhoods—classifying it as a disadvantaged neighborhood (see table below). The adjusted median gross rent (AMGR) for this neighborhood is $1,220, placing it $26 above 50MHI affordability. This is yet another question-raising result that begs for further explanation. US Census Bureau. 2024. “American Community Survey, Five-Year Estimates.” Seriously analyzing the neighborhood contexts surrounding 50MHI households is a reminder that real data doesn’t respect our desires for cooperation. However, despite this harsh truth, researchers find relief in knowing that real data always sheds more light. In this case, the facts show that the closest match neighborhood, based on affordability is a solidly semi-disadvantaged neighborhood, while the neighborhood that is closest to the current circumstances for 50MHI households is an upper-tier disadvantaged neighborhood that is beyond what they can afford. This begs the question, how many neighborhoods are within this income group’s affordability, and what is the categorical breakdown? Our analysis reveals that only 11.2 percent of Metro Atlanta neighborhoods are affordable to 50MHI households. With respect to semi-disadvantaged and disadvantaged neighborhoods, only 17.6 percent of the former are affordable and only 19.4 percent of the latter. This dynamic is yet another indication of rental housing markets having hard bottoms, where the cheapest rents available are unaffordable to low-income members of the community. Even when we broaden out a bit from the closest match neighborhood to include the twenty neighborhoods that are immediately above it and below it (ten each), we see much of the same. As we would anticipate, the $1,196 rental affordability threshold for these neighborhood residents is very close to the figure for 50MHI households ($1,194). Also, in a way that mirrors the outcome for the closest-match scenario above, the average AMGR for these 21 neighborhoods is $1,375, placing market-rate rents in these neighborhoods well above what these residents can afford without being cost-burdened (see table below). Still, the difference between this more inclusive portrait and the closest-match example is nothing to sneeze at, since 50MHI households would be cost-burdened to a $181 degree versus a $26 degree. US Census Bureau. 2024. “American Community Survey, Five-Year Estimates.” So, how do we explain the fact that in terms of rental affordability, 50MHI households would be better off where they could be, rather than where they are? One thing that is visibly clear is market-rate rents in semi-disadvantaged and disadvantaged neighborhoods are untethered to how Metro Atlanta neighborhoods are socioeconomically stratified. Instead of a tethered situation where neighborhood rent prices decline alongside downward socioeconomic indicators, the actual pattern appears to be much bumpier and inconsistent. This dynamic is further explained by the fact that the average AMGR for semi-disadvantaged neighborhoods (3.01 STRAT score) is $1,533, while the figure for disadvantaged neighborhoods (1.45 STRAT score) is $1,421, a mere $112 difference. Even when we bring middling neighborhoods (5.06 STRAT score) into mix, the AMGR difference doesn’t change that much. The average AMGR in disadvantaged neighborhoods is only $264 cheaper than the AMGR in middling neighborhoods ($1,685). Meanwhile, covering the same categorical distance, the AMGR in middling neighborhoods is $580 cheaper than the AMGR in advantaged neighborhoods. US Census Bureau. 2024. “American Community Survey, Five-Year Estimates.” The table above directly compares AMGR-based distance scores to the STRAT score-based distances. In both cases, the neighborhood stratification-based distances more than double the rent-based distances. This finding confirms what was visible from the eye test and further concretizes the research literature on ‘hard-bottom’ rent price dynamics. I have to tie a bow on this one, but we are far from done. Once again, this exercise demonstrates the breadth and depth of the explorations that these datasets make possible. Stay tuned. Learn More",
  "title": "Neighborhood Deep-Dive Datasets: Revisiting 50MHI Households"
}