Minimum wage workers cannot afford rent in any U.S. state

[LovelyRita]

"Full-time minimum wage workers cannot afford a two-bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S. and cannot afford a one-bedroom rental in 95% of U.S. counties, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual "Out of Reach" report.

In fact, the average minimum wage worker in the U.S. would need to work almost 97 hours per week to afford a fair market rate two-bedroom and 79 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom, NLIHC calculates. That's well over two full-time jobs just to be able to afford a two-bedroom rental."

Yikes. I knew the economy was bad for a lot of us but this is really awful.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/07/14/min ... ssion=true

[kevwr1962]

I find a few things interesting. The first is: on one hand minimum wage workers can't afford rent, yet many people bitch, moan, and complain that workers at McDonald's and Walmart don't deserve a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour especially when that is more than a lot of EMTs start out at (https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/H ... n-Illinois). So, right or wrong, there is a percentage of the population that thinks they shouldn't make enough to afford rent. The second is this. If you are a single person, do you need a 2BR apartment (unless you have a roomie)? Maybe the price drops. My first apartment was less than stellar.....it was part of an unfinished basement with a couch and a bathroom that was reminiscent of a 1970s grade school boy's locker room.. Good enough for someone who worked a fulltime job + a lot of overtime and went to school part time. Third, I looked at the salary requirements for each state to afford a 2br. I think Illinois is skewed due to the higher cost of living in Chicago.

[LovelyRita]

You're refuting what she's saying? I'm sorry, but you're just mistaken. You can try to skew it but the data are pretty clear. Boomers have left everyone else fucked.

[Joepyeweed]

Which is why most people making minimum wage (or living on ssi disability) have roommates and use snap.

[LovelyRita]

Landlords are requiring up to 6 months of rent in advance for lease signing. Students loans and that nonsense aren't going to bode well for a huge swath of the country. No worries... Nothing to see here... Everything is fine. Smfh.

[timeforethics]

You're refuting what she's saying? I'm sorry, but you're just mistaken. You can try to skew it but the data are pretty clear. Boomers have left everyone else fucked.

Yeah, it is all the Boomers fault!! SMH! Give me a break!

[LovelyRita]

Uh oh. Didn't mean to offend you. It's true, though. They've left the rest of us to clean up their selfish messes.

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670 ... gress-debt

[RPlant]

Uh oh. Didn't mean to offend you. It's true, though. They've left the rest of us to clean up their selfish messes.

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670 ... gress-debt

Sorry, I'm going to have to call Reaganomics on that play. Boomers may have supported him, but let's be clear when fairy tales of no taxes started to fill our heads.

[Oscar Leroy]

EMTs starting out at less than $15 an hour is disgraceful.

[kevwr1962]

You're refuting what she's saying? I'm sorry, but you're just mistaken. You can try to skew it but the data are pretty clear. Boomers have left everyone else fucked.

Ummmm.....for the most part I'm agreeing with her. I had to work a bunch of overtime just to afford to live in a dumpy no bedroom bottom dweller basement apartment. That wasn't great, but between work and school, I didn't need much more. My point was if you don't NEED a two bedroom apartment, your housing costs could/would be less. I don't know how I'm refuting or mistaken there.

My next point was why shouldn't people like EMTs be making more than McD fry influencers so they can afford a 2 bedroom apartment. And there is a good number of people who think McD fry influencers are underpaid because THEY can't afford an apartment. Where are our priorities? Do you believe fry influencers should make $15 an hour?

Where I disagreed was you "experts" cost of living. I called Bullshit for IL because of Chicago badly inflates those numbers. First off, your "expert" doesn't mention which minimum wage she is using. $7.25 national? $10.00 IL? $13.50 Seattle? She may be right about 97 hours a week if she is using the national minimum wage, but no one in IL is legally making that. So let's examine a few things. A 2 bedroom apartment in Litchfield, IL can be had for $575 a month. It even includes utilities!! In other words, someone would have to make $13 an hour working 40 hours a week, so they could afford this apartment. In Peoria and Rockford, one could rent a 2 bedroom apartment, with pool, for $650 a month. This means someone would have to make $15.25 an hour working 40 hours a week so they could afford this apartment. But wait, I made sure these $$ per hour amounts included taxes and withholdings taken out first BEFORE calculating how much they could spend on rent. So, almost $22 an hour is bullshit outside of Chicago. Your expert is skewing the data, you believed it as gospel truth, it is bullshit, and I"M the one mistaken? That is laughable.

Have a nice day and stay cool......if you can.