New Orleans has landed in the number two spot for U-S cities with households spending more than half their income paying rent.
Miami is number one.
The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies says about 11 million of those rental households spend more than half of their paycheck on rent and utilities -- up 37 percent from 2003.
Financial advisers recommend people spend less than a third of their pay on housing costs.
In New Orleans, 35 percent of renters dedicate more than half of their pay to housing.
Affordable housing advocates say people working in tourism and hospitality might have low-paying jobs that make it harder for them to afford the median rent bill of $900.