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Full-Time Minimum Wage Workers Can’t Afford Rent

The “National Low Income Housing Coalition’s” annual “Out of Reach” report was released and it shows that those working full-time minimum wage jobs cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in…

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The "National Low Income Housing Coalition's" annual "Out of Reach" report was released and it shows that those working full-time minimum wage jobs cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country. In 93% of these counties, they can't even afford a one-bedroom.

Affordability is defined by the report as the hourly wage a full-time worker must make in order to spend no more than 30% of their income on rent. For this year, that would mean earning $24.90 an hour for a two-bedroom home and $20.40 per hour for a one-bedroom rental. Since last year, these numbers have jumped from $23.96 and $19.56 respectively.

The report found that the average hourly worker currently earns $18.78 per hour, which is over $6 short of the amount needed to afford a two-bedroom rental. This means that the average minimum wage worker would need to work almost 97 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom.

Black and Latino workers were more likely to spend more of their income on rent, according to the report. This is because they make less on average than white workers. 25% of white households spent more than 30% of their income on rent, whereas that number is over 40% of Black and Latino households.
Read the full article here.
SOURCE: National Low Income Housing Coalition