Housing affordability challenges in households with young children

Key points:

• A quarter of all parents with young children in a national survey report rising housing expenses in their area.
• One in five families with young children have trouble paying for housing.
• Nearly one-third of families who rent worry about being evicted.
• Parents seek the stability provided by home ownership, but worry about obstacles to owning homes.

In July 2026, the U.S. Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the first bipartisan housing legislation in over 30 years. Implementing this policy requires insights into families’ housing experiences, which RAPID data provides.

This issue brief presents an overview of what families say about housing affordability, using June 2025 to September 2025 RAPID national survey responses from parents of children under age 6 across the country. (Note: Stanford Center on Early Childhood issue briefs, like this one, report current RAPID national survey data on key early childhood issues for policymakers, updated twice annually.)

Families nationwide report increasing housing costs

More than one in four parents surveyed (27%) who indicated that costs for everyday items had gone up in their area reported that housing had become more expensive in their area in the last month. Many parents reported payment challenges and described housing costs as unaffordable. A parent in Nevada wrote, “We want to move but housing costs are too high to either rent or buy.” Despite these challenges, caregivers wrote that homeownership was a goal and inability to afford buying a home was the biggest barrier. A parent in Ohio wrote, “We want to buy a home but everything is extremely overpriced.” A parent in Virginia said, “We would love a home of our own but are unable to afford in our area.”

Many families report difficulty paying for housing

About one in five parents surveyed (21%) reported difficulty paying for housing in the last month. A parent in California said, “Our biggest challenges are being able to pay our full rent and put food on our table.” One in ten parents surveyed (10%) did not pay the full amount of rent or mortgage or were late with payments in the last 30 days because they couldn’t afford it. A parent in Pennsylvania wrote, “Rent is really high for what we make monthly.” Others described challenges finding housing, even with assistance. A parent in Tennessee said, “We received a section 8 voucher, but can’t find housing that will accept it.”

Families worry about being able to stay in their current housing

Among renters, 29% worried about being evicted in the next month and 8% had received eviction notices in the last 30 days. Among homeowners, 3% worried about foreclosure and 2% received foreclosure notices. Parents wrote about immediate housing threats. A parent in Illinois said, “[Our biggest challenge is] having a place to live. We will be getting evicted in no time.” Others wrote about the ongoing stress of not knowing if they could stay in their homes, even when they were able to pay. A parent in Minnesota wrote, “We are cripplingly stressed out about finances. We have savings and no debt, but it doesn’t seem to matter because housing prices and rates are astronomical.”

Conclusion

Parents report housing cost increases, payment difficulties, and concerns about being able to stay in their current housing situation. Despite these challenges, parents say homeownership remains an important goal for their family. These findings show families need policies that make housing more affordable, no matter what type of housing they live in.

Sample description

This analysis on RAPID data is based on responses collected from 634 caregivers in June 2025 (15.3% are Black, 18.0% are Latinx, and 23.5% live below 200% of the federal poverty level) and 1,194 caregivers in September 2025 (19.0% are Black, 35.2% are Latinx, and 30.6% live below 200% of the federal poverty level). We weight data to reflect the real-time makeup of U.S. families with children under age 6.