How Much You Have To Earn To Afford A Two-Bedroom Home In Every State, Mapped
The cost of affordable housing has gotten significantly worse for Americans — and not just in notoriously expensive cities like San Francisco.
According to a new 2019 "Out Of Reach" report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there isn't a state in the United States where earning the federal minimum wage could pay for a two-bedroom home.
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour — and if that sounds low and outdated, that's because it is: it's been more than 10 years since Congress last raised it.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition mapped out how much you'd need to earn as an hourly wage in order to afford a basic two-bedroom rental place and the results aren't pretty.
Some of the key takeaways from this report is that Hawaii is the most expensive state in the United States to rent a two-bedroom rental home, with renters required to earn $36.82 an hour in order to afford it, and Arkansas being the least expensive, with renters needing to make just $14.26 an hour.
Here are the the bottom 5 states (including DC) with the lowest wages required for housing.
51. Arkansas — $14.26
50. West Virginia — $14.27
49. Mississippi — $14.43
48. Kentucky — $14.84
47. Alabama — $14.92
And here are the most expensive states, requiring the highest wages.
5. New York — $30.76
4. Washington, DC — $32.02
3. Massachusetts — $33.81
2. California — $34.69
1. Hawaii — $36.82