Rent Becoming Out of Reach for Most Families

For most Americans working on minimum wage, the outlook on rentis becoming gloomy. The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently conducted a study that revealedthere are no states where a minimum-wage worker on 40 hours a week can afford a 1 bedroom rental. In fact, the study showed the amount of wage needed to rent a2 bedroom placeis $20.30/hour!

To give you an idea of how out of whack that number is, the average hourly pay nationally is $15.42/hour. The federal minimum wage, at around $7.25/hour, is only a 3rd of what is needed to afford a average 2 bedroom rental. Thatmeansminimum-wage workers have to work 3 jobs or 112 hours a week!

This means a lot of a tenants income goes to pay the rent, making it difficult to save money for a down payment to buy a home. The prices of rental is different from state to state, so the National Low Income Housing Coalition created this map indicating the minimum wage required to rent an average 2 bedroom in each state.