Seattle is a rapidly growing city known for its strong technology sector and diverse population. However, this growth has also created significant housing affordability challenges. Rising rents and limited housing resources have made it increasingly difficult for many residents to find affordable housing.
Housing affordability plays an important role in community well-being and economic stability. Changes in housing costs can affect where people live, neighborhood demographics, and access to opportunities. In recent years, Seattle has been affected in housing affordability driven by population growth, economic expansion, and housing policy decisions. This tool aims to help policymakers, researchers, community members to explore trends in rent burden and better understand housing affordability across the city.
The project includes a choropleth map that displays different levels of housing affordability using color gradients. This allows users to quickly identify neighborhoods with higher or lower affordability based on MHA zone tiers.
The citywide rent burden rate shows the percentage of households that spend a high portion of their income on rent across the city for the selected year.
A timeline slider allows users to select different years between 2006 and 2022 and observe how housing affordability has changed over time.
Users can filter the data by demographic characteristics to explore how housing affordability differs across communities and population groups.
Bar charts provide comparisons of housing affordability indicators across demographic groups and the line graph visualizes rent burden trends over the years.
Interactive hover popups display detailed information for each neighborhood, including metrics like MHA zone tier and housing category.
Navigate the map by panning and zooming to explore different Seattle neighborhoods and MHA policies.
Select a year using the timeline slider to view rent burden trends and median household income for that time period.
Apply demographic filters to examine affordability trends across different population groups.
Use the charts and map together to compare neighborhoods and analyze affordability patterns.