Affordable Housing Production

As directed by Minnesota Statute §473.254, the Metropolitan Council must submit an annual report on affordable and life-cycle housing production for jurisdictions within the Twin Cities region. To fulfill this responsibility, study relevant housing production trends against the needs of the region’s residents, and inform regional policymakers and local partners, community development researchers conduct a multi-phased process each year that results in an affordable housing production dataset for the Twin Cities region.

Affordable housing production data has an 18-month lag. The most current dataset was published in August 2026 and describes affordable housing production in 2025.

Area Median Income (AMI)

Our affordable housing production data express the housing costs of new affordable units as shares of Area Median Income (AMI). AMI is a measure of median income for family households in the Twin Cities metro calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Housing policy staff describe current and historical AMI and the uses and limitations of this federal definition.

The AMI for the 15-county Minneapolis-Saint Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metro for a family of four in 2025 was $132,400. The table below summarizes incomes and housing costs as shares of AMI to provide more context for the key findings below.

2025 Area Median Income and Affordability Limits
  30% AMI 50% AMI 60% AMI 80% AMI
Income (family of 4) $39,700 $66,200 $79,440 $104,200
Home purchase price  $98,000 $183,700 $225,300 $306,500
Rent for studio/efficiency $694 $1,158 $1,389 $1,852
Rent for 1-bedroom unit $744 $1,241 $1,489 $1,985
Rent for 2-bedroom unit $894 $1,490 $1,788 $2,384
For owner-occupied housing, the income limit includes principal, interest, property taxes and home insurance. Rents include tenant-paid utilities.

Affordable Housing: Production Trends and Opportunities in 2025

Key findings from an analysis of 2025’s affordable housing production data include:
  • About one in eight new housing units permitted in 2025 was affordable to households with incomes at or below 60% of Area Median Income (AMI).
  • Like residential development trends overall, affordable housing production has been in decline since 2023, particularly for units at or below 50% AMI.
  • 88% of households with incomes at or below 30% AMI experienced housing cost burden—that is, their housing costs are more than 30% of their monthly income.
  • 12% of the region's households have incomes at or below 30% AMI. Only 6% of the region's housing units are affordable to households with incomes at this level.
  • The region needs more deeply affordable housing, particularly in Suburban Edge communities.
  • The median sales price of a detached single-family home in the Twin Cities region was $428,000 in 2025, well above what households with incomes at or below 80% AMI can afford.
  • The region's racial inequities in homeownership persist.
RELATED VIDEO

Principal researcher Matt Schroeder and planning analyst Maia Guerrero-Combs presented residential development and affordable housing production trends to the Community Development Committee on September 8, 2026 in more detail.

Watch the presentation video or view the slide deck (PDF).

Affordable Housing in 2025: Annual Summary

Read the 2025 analysis of housing production trends and gaps in the Twin Cities region:

Where to find affordable housing production data

How we develop affordable housing production data

Community development researchers conduct several annual online surveys of local governments to capture development activity (annual building permit survey), assess specific housing situations (manufactured housing, group quarters), and better understand local planning efforts to meet affordable housing needs (Housing Policy and Production Survey or HPPS). Developing the annual affordable housing dataset requires (nearly) all of this locally provided information.

Beyond survey responses, affordability of added housing units is verified by community development researchers through various means—for example, County development agencies, local government websites, parcel data, housing market data sources, and direct conversations with local government staff. We also compare our data to Metropolitan Council’s Service Availability Charge (SAC) reports where possible.

Housing Policy and Production Survey (HPPS)

Joel Nyhus
Researcher
Data Development and Analysis Team
Community Development Research
[email protected]