Laura Meneses made the same fateful choice that thousands of local home buyers have made since 2004: She decided to spend most of her family's income on housing.

Over the last four years, the number of Santa Clara County homeowners who spend over half their income on housing climbed by 26 percent, to more than one in five households with a mortgage, a Mercury News analysis of newly released census data shows.

Devoting a majority of your income to housing is one definition of "house-poor"; people are often advised to figure on 30 percent as the right proportion. Despite the Bay Area's affluence, economists say the growing mortgage burden is a cause for concern as the economy teeters and credit markets lock up. While having large numbers of households that spend so much on housing doesn't necessarily increase the risks of a recession, it could worsen (more...)