104 Wardlaw Street, Greenville, SC 29601
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Community Development Staff is working with Greenville Housing Fund staff on an alignment of affordable housing definitions including median family income, area median income, income limits, and rent limits. This document is a beginning draft of those definitions and limits.
Housing is considered affordable if a family spends no more than 30% of their gross income to live there. This includes rent/mortgage and utilities (water, sewer, gas, trash, and electricity). As such, affordable housing differs according to family income. Typically, affordable housing references affordability for families in the middle to lower end of the income scale. However, all levels of income must have access to affordable housing.
Often, affordable and workforce housing are terms used synonymously because most low-to-moderate income families are working and are in need of affordable housing near their employment. Income levels for this type of housing are often at 80% AMI or below.
HUD estimates Median Family Income (MFI) annually for each metropolitan area and non-metropolitan county. The metropolitan area definitions are the same ones HUD uses for Fair Market Rents (except where statute requires a different configuration). HUD calculates Income Limits as a function of the area’s Median Family Income (MFI). The basis for HUD’s median family incomes is data from the American Community Survey, table B19113 – MEDIAN FAMILY INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS. For Greenville County, the MFI is calculated within the Greenville – Easley – Mauldin, SC HUD Metro FMR Area.
The term Area Median Income is the term used more generally in the industry particularly when assigning ranges to the MFI. If the term Area Median Income (AMI) is used in an unqualified manor, this reference is synonymous with HUD’s MFI. However, if the term AMI is qualified in some way – generally percentages of AMI, or AMI adjusted for family size, then this is a reference to HUD’s income limits, which are calculated as percentages of median incomes and include adjustments for families of different sizes.
| Household Size | 30% (Extremely Low) | 50% (Very Low) | 60% | 80% (Low Income) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $18,700 | $31,150 | $37,380 | $49,850 |
| 2 | $21,400 | $35,600 | $42,720 | $57,000 |
| 3 | $24,860 | $40,050 | $48,060 | $64,100 |
| 4 | $30,000 | $44,500 | $53,400 | $71,200 |
| 5 | $35,140 | $48,100 | $57,720 | $76,900 |
| 6 | $40,280 | $51,650 | $61,980 | $82,600 |
| 7 | $45,420 | $55,200 | $66,240 | $88,300 |
| 8 | $50,560 | $58,750 | $70,500 | $94,000 |
| % of AMI | Studio | 1 Bed | 2 Bed | 3 Bed | 4 Bed | 5 Bed | 6 Bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30% | $468 | $535 | $622 | $750 | $879 | $1007 | $1136 |
| 50% | $778 | $834 | $1001 | $1157 | $1291 | $1424 | $1557 |
| 60% | $935 | $1068 | $1202 | $1335 | $1443 | $1550 | $1656 |
| 80% | $1246 | $1425 | $1603 | $1780 | $1923 | $2065 | $2208 |
| FMR | $865 | $931 | $1051 | $1344 | $1628 | $1872 | $2116 |
