'Decent and modest' housing is out of reach for millions of Americans. Massachusetts tops the list of least affordable states; San Jose, CA tops the list of least affordable MSA's.
"The national Housing Wage for 2003 is $15.21 an hour, or $31,637 a year--almost three times the federal minimum wage--according to _Out of Reach: 2003_. The Housing Wage is the amount a person working full-time has to earn to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at fair market rent while paying no more than 30% of income in rent....For each jurisdiction, the report also provides data on the number of renters, the estimated percentage of renters unable to afford fair market rent, and the number of hours per week a person earning the minimum wage would need to work to be able to afford modest housing, among other data....For each juristiction the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn to afford a rental unit of a range of sizes at the areas Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs." Click on the link to the report for the full list of rankings by state, county and MSA.
Thanks to Connie Chung
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