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.

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.

In Pennsylvania, NLIHC puts the “housing wage” for 2020 - or what a full-time worker must make in order to afford a fair market rental without spending more than 30% of his or her income - at $19.23 per hour for a two-bedroom rental.

That means even the average hourly worker who earns $18.22 per hour cannot afford rent, the NLIHC says. Many workers deemed essential during the coronavirus pandemic earn even less. Nationally, “grocery store cashiers earn a median wage of $11.61 per hour, while building cleaning workers and home health and personal care aides earn $12.94,” per NLIHC.

Jerry Hoare

Jim Thorpe