On Minimum Wage, How Many Hours Do Texans Have to Work to Afford a One-Bedroom Apartment?
With on-going debates about minimum wage, we look at how many hours at the current minimum wage it takes to afford a one-bedroom apartment.
First, we have to consider that the cost of the average one-bedroom apartment definitely varies from state to state. In compiling their numbers, the National Low Income Housing Coalition used the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, or the state minimum in cases where it exceeds the Federal minimum, and the "affordability" definition that rent and utilities should account for no more than 30% of a household's gross income.
The following is the number of hours someone in each state would have to work at current minimum wages, either state or federal depending on which is higher, and maintain a one-bedroom apartment at the 30% affordability level. As you'll see, there is not a single state where someone could work the standard 40-hour full-time work week and afford a one-bedroom apartment. And in some cases, there are states where one would have to work 3 full-time jobs to pay their monthly rent. Using the 2015 Fair Market Rent level of $806 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, someone on the federal minimum wage would have to work 86 hours a week to afford their apartment. However, some states have drastically higher averages for their apartment rates.
Note: Underlined states have a state minimum wage that exceeds the federal.
- Puerto Rico - 48 hours
- South Dakota - 49 hours
- West Virginia - 53 hours
- Arkansas - 54 hours
- Montana - 54 hours
- Nebraska - 54 hours
- Ohio - 54 hours
- Kentucky - 57 hours
- Iowa - 58 hours
- Michigan - 58 hours
- Oregon - 58 hours
- Idaho - 59 hours
- Missouri - 59 hours
- Oklahoma - 59 hours
- Alabama - 61 hours
- Mississippi - 61 hours
- Indiana - 62 hours
- Kansas - 62 hours
- North Dakota - 62 hours
- New Mexico - 64 hours
- Wyoming - 64 hours
- Tennessee - 65 hours
- North Carolina - 66 hours
- South Carolina - 66 hours
- Arizona - 67 hours
- Rhode Island - 67 hours
- Wisconsin - 67 hours
- Minnesota - 68 hours
- Louisiana - 69 hours
- Utah - 69 hours
- Vermont - 70 hours
- Maine - 71 hours
- Nevada - 71 hours
- Georgia - 72 hours
- Texas - 73 hours
- Washington - 73 hours
- Colorado - 75 hours
- Illinois - 75 hours
- Florida - 77 hours
- Pennsylvania - 78 hours
- Alaska - 79 hours
- Connecticut - 84 hours
- Massachusetts - 87 hours
- Delaware - 89 hours
- New Hampshire - 89 hours
- California - 92 hours
- Virginia - 97 hours
- New York - 98 hours
- New Jersey - 100 hours
- Washington D.C. - 100 hours
- Maryland - 101 hours
- Hawaii - 125 hours
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