The size of the gap between wages and the cost of rent is growing, and spreading. For renters, every corner of the country's housing market is in crisis.
Laura Bliss reports on the findings of the new "Out of Reach" report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Here's the big takeaway:
In 2017, the average U.S. worker would need to bring in a whopping $21.21 per hour to reasonably afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. That’s nearly three times the federal minimum wage of $7.25, and roughly 30 percent more than the $16.38 hourly wage that the average U.S. renter brings home.
The report maps that data to provide another stark reality: "there’s not a single state, county, or metro area in which a simple two-bedroom rental is affordable to a person working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, at the local statutory minimum wage." And, "[in] only 12 counties in Washington, Arizona, and Oregon (all states with minimum wages above the federal standard) can that worker afford a modest one-bedroom unit."
Bliss shares a lot more of the numbers included in the report, along with several infographics and maps to illustrate the state of housing affordability in the country.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research