No Minimum-Wage Worker Can Afford Modest 2-Bedroom Rental: Study

NEW YORK, NY — The typical American must earn $22.10 an hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rate, according to a new report by affordable housing advocates. The report, "Out of Reach," released Wednesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said a full-time American worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would have to work about 122 hours a week every week of the year — that's the same as working three full-time jobs — to afford a two-bedroom rental home.

That same worker would need to work 99 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom rental home.

On average, the study said, extremely low-income households of four people earn no more than $26,420 a year and can afford at most $660 a month for housing. But the national average fair market rent for a one-bedroom home is $931 a month, the report said. For a two-bedroom, it's $1,149 — "far from affordable" for such families.

The findings illustrate just how "far out of reach" even modestly priced housing is for the country's low-wage workers and most vulnerable populations.

The national housing wage — the hourly wage a household must earn to afford a decent

apartment while spending no more than 30 percent of income on housing — is $22.10 for a modest two-bedroom apartment. It's $17.90 for a one-bedroom.

That number ranges from as low as $13.84 in Arkansas all the way up to a whopping $36.13 in Hawaii. The five metro areas with the highest two-bedroom housing wages are Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut ($38.19); Honolulu, Hawaii ($39.06); Oakland-Fremont, California ($44.79); San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California ($48.50); and San Francisco, California ($60.02).

"In no state, metropolitan area, or county can a worker earning the federal minimum wage or prevailing state minimum wage afford a two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour week," the study said. "In only 22 counties out of more than 3,000 counties nationwide can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent."

In the report, Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote that stable and affordable housing is vital for people to live with dignity. Without it, economic opportunity is a pipe dream.

"It is difficult for families to keep up, and near impossible to get ahead or save for retirement or higher education," wrote Sanders. "Without a stable home, children suffer emotionally and at school. Seniors cannot possibly retire with dignity and respect."

Sanders added that the housing market may have recovered for many, but the country nonetheless is in the midst of "an affordable housing crisis" — particularly the lowest-income families.

"In America today, nearly 11 million families pay more than half of their limited incomes toward rent and utilities," he wrote. "That leaves precious little for other essentials, like food, transportation and health care — much less a few extra dollars to take your kid to see a movie."

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