Rising rental rates are effecting everyone, especially those who work minimum wage jobs. And now, a new study by Zillow found that it takes nearly four full-time minimum wage workers, earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, to afford the typical national two-bedroom apartment.
If you don’t want to share a room while spending a maximum of 30 percent of your wages on rent, you do have another option: Pick up four full-time jobs.
Cities with higher minimum wages tend to fare better, even though rents are often more expensive there than the national average. Of the cities analyzed with a minimum wage higher than $7.25, a two-bedroom rental would require an average of 2.5 full-time workers to be affordable. In cities with the federal minimum wage, an average of 3.5 full-time workers are needed to afford the same rental.
The rising cost of affordable living spaces in the US has become a major concern in recent years, and advocates have argued that raising the minimum wage gap to better reflect the demands of the current economy is one step in a multi-part solution.
