While their voice may be small, it does't mean they are wrong. The political party The Rent is Too Damn High seeks to fix New York City's growing rent problem, and although they have not had much success, as it turns out, they are right.
The party focuses on the Big Apple, but this infographic from online real estate listing service Zillow shows the minimum wage needed to live in a median-priced rental in a metro area across the nation.
And rent outside of New York City is still, in fact, too damn high. In San Francisco renters have to make $79 an hour to afford the median rent, compared to a job in Philadelphia that only requires you to make at least $24 an hour.
But keep in mind how much you need to make hourly is less if you choose to buy a house.
On average, homebuyers making the nation’s median income and purchasing the typical U.S. home spend 15.3% of their income on their monthly house payment.
In contrast, renters spent 29.9% of their monthly income on rent in the third quarter of 2014.
Click to enlarge
Source: Zillow
So what should you do if you choose to rent? Here is Stan Humphries, chief economist with Zillow’s advice:
Renting on min wage? Get a raise. In 15k cities single min wage renter cant afford rent w/out exceeding 30% of income http://t.co/1uJBIJl4YS
— Stan Humphries (@StanHumphries) December 11, 2014
This is good news though if you are willing to split the load and find a roommate, but it is still difficult in some locations, Zillow noted in a research report.
Typical rentals in 135 cities and towns nationwide (less than 1% of all cities/towns analyzed), largely clustered in the Midwest and Deep South, are affordable for households with at least two workers earning the federal minimum wage.
The same does not go for the remaining 14,963 communities covered though.
Check out this interactive chart to see how your metro compares.
