RENT IN ITS RELATION TO STANDARD OF LIVING.

The following table shows the average rent paid each month per apartment, per room, and per person, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 441.-Average rent per month, by general nativity and race of head of household. (STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

The average rent per month per apartment of the total number of households is $8.96; per room, $1.52; per person, $1.25. Classing the households by the general nativity of the head, the highest rents per apartment, per room, and per person paid by these heads were by native-born of foreign father, the lowest by the foreign-born. Among the households whose heads were native-born of foreign father the rent per apartment, per room, per person paid by the Irish is higher in each instance than the average for that class of households. The English and Germans of this nativity group on the contrary pay less rent per apartment, per room, and per class than the average shown for the total group.

Among the households whose heads were foreign-born the lowest average rents per apartment are paid by the Magyars, the Germans, and South Italians, in the order named. The Magyars and Germans pay a relatively low average rent per person, but the South Italians average a comparatively high rent per person. The Irish maintain a high rent per apartment, per room, and per person. The Bulgarians and Croatians average a high rent per apartment and per room but a low rent per person. In fact, excepting the Irish households, a high average rent per room is usually accompanied by a low average rent per person, indicating clearly that the foreign-born crowd an unusually large number of persons into their households in order to reduce the per capita rent payment.

The range in monthly rent payments is exhibited by the series of tables next submitted. The table next presented shows the percentage

48296°-VOL 8-11- 44

of households paying each specified rent per apartment, by general nativity and race of head of household.

TABLE 442.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per apartment, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of the total number of households 57.8 per cent pay under $10 per month per apartment and 23.7 per cent pay under $7.50. Of the households whose heads were foreign-born, 60.9 per cent pay under $10 and 25.2 per cent under $7.50 per month. On the other hand, only 40 per cent of native-born of foreign father pay under $10 and 12.5 per cent under $7.50. Relatively low rent per apartment is most frequent among the Magyars, 84.4 per cent of the households of this race paying under $10. The Croatian and Slovenian households pay under $10 in less than the majority of cases.

The table next presented shows the number and per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 443.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

Of a total of 287 families, studied in the preceding table, 1 per cent pay under $1, 89.2 per cent pay under $2, 98.6 per cent pay under $3, and 100 per cent pay under $4 rent per month per room. The foreign-born show a slightly larger proportion than the native-born of foreign father, paying under $1, under $2, and under $3. Among the foreign-born races the German and Magyar, with 6.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively, are the only ones paying under $1; the Servian shows the largest and the Slovenian the smallest proportion paying under $2, and the German is the only one paying as high as $3 rent per month per room.

The following tables show the number and percentage of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 444.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

The above table shows 25.4 per cent of the total number of households paying under $1, 72.5 per cent paying under $2, and only 4.9 per cent paying over $4 each month per person. Among those paying under $1 it will be noted there are no households whose heads were native-born or native-born of foreign parents, while only 3 per cent of the foreign-born pay $4 or over, and over 12 per cent of the nativeborn of foreign father pay $4 or over. Consequently the table indicates greater congestion and a lower standard of living among the households whose heads were of foreign birth.

A comparison of the races of foreign birth shows a smaller proportion of the Slovenians and a larger proportion of Servians, as compared with other races paying less than $1 per month per person. Of the races paying under $2, the Servians show 91.9 per cent, followed closely by the Croatians, Magyars, and Germans, in the order named. The Slovenians again make the best showing, with only 72.7 per cent in this classification, while of those paying over $4 the Šlovenians also exhibit the greatest proportion of households.

BOARDERS AND LODGERS.

The following table shows the number and percentage of households keeping boarders or lodgers, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 445.-Number and per cent of households keeping boarders or lodgers, by genera nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[Information relating to boarders or lodgers covers only immediate time of taking schedule and not the entire year. Boarders are persons who receive both board and lodging.]

In this locality information concerning 405 households was secured. Of this number, 51.9 per cent keep boarders or lodgers, the foreignborn reporting 60.9 per cent, as compared with 13.3 per cent of the native-born of foreign father and 20 per cent of the white persons native-born of native father.

Among those households whose heads are foreign-born, the Servian, 94.7 per cent of whom keep boarders or lodgers, show a much larger proportion than do the Croatian households. The Croatian households in turn show a considerably larger proportion than do the Magyar Slovenian, South Italian, or German households, the last named reporting 53.3 per cent. In striking contrast with the above is the very small proportion, or 9.5 per cent, of the Irish households keeping boarders or lodgers.

Of those households whose heads are native-born of foreign father, the Germans show a slightly larger proportion than do those households whose heads are white persons native-born of native father, but a very much smaller proportion than those households whose heads are foreign-born Germans. As between the Irish households whose heads are native-born of foreign father and foreign-born, the former show a smaller proportion than do the latter keeping boarders or lodgers, each showing a very small proportion.

The following table shows the average number of boarders or lodgers per household, by general nativity and race of head of household.

TABLE 446.—Average number of boarders or lodgers per household, by general nativity and race of head of household.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[Information relating to boarders or lodgers covers only immediate time of taking schedules and not the entire year. Boarders are persons who receive both board and lodging.]

In this table of 405 households there are 210 keeping a total of 1,003 boarders or lodgers, averaging 4.78 boarders or lodgers to each of the 210 boarding houses, or making an average of 2.48 boarders or lodgers to every one of the total number of households. In the 325 foreign households reporting there is an average of 3 lodgers or boarders to each, or an average of 4.93 to every household keeping boarders or lodgers. In the 20 households whose heads were nativeborn of native father, however, there are but 4 households with a total of 6 boarders or lodgers for the whole, averaging 0.3 to each household.

Of the foreign races but 3, the Irish, English, and South Italian, report 1 or less boarders or lodgers to a household. The first-named race reports the minimum average of any race of 0.1 per household, a slightly higher proportion of the English reporting the same, and the South Italians averaging 1 boarder or lodger to each household. The Slovenians, Germans, and Slovaks average slightly more than 2 boarders or lodgers to a household, the proportions ranging as high as 2.42 boarders or lodgers per household in the case of the Slovaks. The Magyars and Croatians average slightly less than 4 boarders or