USA Not a Country for Minimum Wage Workers
Housing has become so expensive in the United States that the typical minimum wage worker cannot afford rent, according to a new report. There is no state, county or city in the country where a full-time, minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford a two-bedroom rental, a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed. A full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental in only 7% of all US counties — 218 counties out of more than 3,000 nationwide. The federal minimum wage is $7.25. But the report showed that a worker would need to earn $24.90 per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom home at Fair Market Rent. And a $20.40 "housing wage" would be needed for a one-bedroom. Fair Market Rents are government estimates of what a person should expect to pay for a modest home in their area. A housing wage is the amount a worker would need to earn to afford a home without spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Nationally, the average fair market rent is $1,061 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,295 a month for a two-bedroom, according to the report. Meanwhile, the average renter's hourly wage is $18.78, an income that can absorb only $977 a month in rent without being housing cost burdened. A household living on one minimum wage income can afford even less, $377 a month, the report showed. The average renter In 17 states -- including California, Florida, and New York -- earns at least $5.00 below the state's average two-bedroom housing wage. The biggest gap is in Hawaii, where the difference between what an average renter earns, and the state's two-bedroom housing wage is $20.13. And even the states, the District of Columbia, and several dozen counties and municipalities that have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage don't clear the bar. In California, where the minimum wage is $14 an hour, the cost of housing is so high that it still has the highest housing wage: A person in California needs to earn $39.03 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment and $31.06 for a one-bedroom. A minimum-wage worker would have to put in 89 hours every week just to afford the one-bedroom and 112 hours to afford the two-bedroom. West Virginia has among the lowest housing wages. But with a minimum wage of $8.75 an hour, workers would still need to earn $14.83 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment, and $12.12 for a one-bedroom. The report includes an interactive map that shows how much you need to earn in your area to afford rent.
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