Detailed chart shows the hourly income Americans need to afford rent and it's alarming

A report calculated the total hourly pay of the minimum wage workers in the U.S. and it had startling results.

UPDATED SEP 30, 2024

With the cost of living and rent surging across the U.S., many Americans who work a regular 9 to 5 job are reportedly unable to afford even an average one-bedroom rental home in any state. Although government housing programs are working towards providing shelter to low-income families, a vast majority of Americans are struggling to find affordable housing while they make ends meet.

A 'For Rent' sign is posted near a home on February 07, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Since March 2020, the estimated median rent of new leases has increased by double digits in several Texas cities. The increase in sales prices has made it more difficult for people to buy a home, as a result increasing the number of people looking to rent. — A 'For Rent' sign is posted near a home on February 07, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Getty Images | Oscar Wong

According to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) called "Out of Reach," full-time employees making minimum wage are unable to afford basic rental homes in any part of the United States. The report compared the minimum wages with the housing costs in different states across the country including metropolitan areas and the counties. A year's worth of calculations shows that the hourly wage earned by these workers is lower than the rent they have to pay for a two-bedroom rental in 2022. The rent is actually two times more than the federal hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in every single state.

Cover Image Source: nlihc.org — Image Source: nlihc.org

Representative Image Source: Young couple in bedroom loft of tiny house. Getty Images | Tony Anderson

To afford a modest two-bedroom home, one needs to make at least $25.82 per hour in the country and for a single-bedroom rental, they should be making $21.25 per hour. “No local minimum wages are sufficient to afford a one-bedroom rental home at the fair market rent with a 40-hour workweek,” NLIHC stated, per HuffPost. After comparing the 50 states of the country, the report has found that Arkansas has the lowest hourly income rate requirement to afford a two-bedroom rental at $14.89, since the minimum hourly wage in Arkansas starts at $11. On the other hand, Hawaii requires the renters to have the highest incomes and the minimum wage workers need to make $40.63 to rent a two-bedroom home.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | Khwanchai Phanthong

Hawaii's minimum wage was increased to $12 per hour on October 1, 2023. An average American is required to work 96 hours per week for 52 weeks so they can rent a two-bedroom home, as mentioned in the report. “Housing is a basic human need but millions of people in America cannot afford a safe, stable home,” NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel stated in a previous press release, per the news outlet. “The lack of affordable homes for the lowest-income people is one of our country’s most urgent and solvable challenges, during and after COVID-19. We lack only the political will to fund the solutions at the scale necessary. It’s time for Congress to act.”

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rental rates have eased in some places but rent was still up 8.3% nationally in December 2022 compared to 2021. CNBC reported that according to research conducted by Zillow, the ideal situation would be an area with high local wages and low rents but such a city is hard to come by in the U.S. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say it takes a family of four with two working adults to get by, as per the news outlet.