Real Disposable Income
After-inflation spending power. Tells you whether tenants can absorb rent raises.
- source
- FRED
- frequency
- monthly
- units
- dollars
- s.a.
- yes
Note: Chained 2017 dollars, billions, SAAR.
Real disposable income sits at $18,366 per capita, up 0.95% year-over-year—a deceleration from the 1.5%+ growth rates you saw in 2024 and early 2025. The trajectory has flatlined over the last three months, bouncing between $18,292 and $18,416 with no clear upward tilt. For rent-raise math, this is the inflection: tenants' after-inflation purchasing power is barely moving, which means you've hit the ceiling on nominal rent growth without pushing people into cost-burden territory or triggering turnover. If you're banking on another 3-4% lease bump in 2027, recalibrate downward unless you're in a market where in-migration is pulling incomes up faster than the national average.
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Real Disposable Income — After-inflation spending power. Tells you whether tenants can absorb rent raises.
Freq: monthly · Source: FRED
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from fredapi import Fred
fred = Fred(api_key="YOUR_FRED_API_KEY")
series = fred.get_series("DSPIC96")
print(series.tail())You are analyzing FRED series DSPIC96 — Real Disposable Personal Income. Context: After-inflation spending power. Tells you whether tenants can absorb rent raises. Attributes - Units: dollars - Frequency: monthly - Source: FRED Latest observation: $18,366 as of 2026-09-01 Year-over-year change: +0.95% Analyze this metric for a tech-forward real estate investor with 1–3 properties. What is it signaling right now? What should I watch next?