Middle Class, Beware

In San Francisco, a household now needs an income of $188,000 to afford rent for the average two-bedroom house or apartment with 30% of the household income spent on housing.

The problem is that the median income is only $103,801.

Housing is 81% out of reach!

And this is true across the country as well.

It takes an hourly wage of $22.10 to afford the median two-bedroom apartment versus the actual median wage of $16.88.

That makes it 31% out of reach. And the median cost for a two-bedroom apartment three-times minimum wage.

The most expensive state is Hawaii at $36.16 compared to the $16.16 actual hourly wage earned, making it 123% out of reach.

Meanwhile, the lowest is Arkansas at $13.84 needed, and an actual hourly wage earned of $13.05. That is only 6% out of reach.

Then there’s Puerto Rico at only $9.24 an hour to afford that median two-bedroom versus $9.76 of actual wages.

Finally, an affordable place to live as a U.S. citizen.

The next two tables summarize a recent survey that ranked cities by the percentage of households that are cost-burdened by renting or owning houses.
This means that they spend over 30% of their income on housing.
They also have some good information on incomes and housing affordability.

The top five for cost burdens are San Francisco (55.9%), San Jose (54.7%), Oxnard/Thousand Oaks/Ventura (53.5%), San Diego (52.2%), and Honolulu (51.9%). Four of these are in California – no surprise.