Rent unaffordable in half of Salem neighborhoods, Census data shows

Half of Salem and Keizer neighborhoods are not affordable for renters as rents have climbed faster than inflation over the past five years, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data.

In neighborhoods across central, north and east Salem, a renter earning the neighborhood’s median income spends more than 30 percent of that income on rent. That number is as high as 41 percent in Salem’s least affordable neighborhoods.

Government housing programs have long used the…