TACOMA — If you’re among the more than 1 million renters in Washington, you understand how expensive and sometimes unaffordable it has become for many to rent in the state.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition put together a report for the 35th year in a row that outlines and brings attention to the disparity between wages and the cost of rental housing in the U.S. The report is centered around one main statistic, the housing wage.
The housing wage is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a simple rental home without spending over 30% of their income on housing costs based on the country’s Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent, or FMR.
“Although most indicators show that the U.S. economy is strong, the lowest-income renters continue to confront significant challenges finding and maintaining access to safe and affordable rental housing. Insufficient wages, rising rents, and an inadequate housing safety net all contribute to the problem,” the NLIHC website states.
The report ranked each state from the highest hourly wage required to afford a two-bedroom rental home to the lowest. According to the report, Washington has the fifth-highest hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom home with an hourly wage of over $40.
Where is a 2 bedroom home most expensive?
The NLIHC report found that people living in 18 out of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico must earn more than $30 per hour to be able to afford a two-bedroom home.
According to the report, these are the five states that require the highest hourly wage:
- California — $47.38 per hour
- Massachusetts — $44.84 per hour
- New York — $44.77 per hour
- Hawai’i — $44.60 per hour
- Washington — $40.32
Why is WA housing expensive?
The report ranked Washington as the state with the fifth-highest wage needed to afford the cost of a two-bedroom home due to the significant difference between the state’s minimum wage and how much renter’s need to earn to be able to afford the monthly cost of an apartment.
Washington’s minimum wage is $16.28 and the average renter wage is $28.95 while the cost of a 2-bedroom home in Washington is $2,097, according to the Fair Market Rent.
According to the report, Washington renters must earn an hourly wage of at least $40.32 to be able to afford the rent for a two-bedroom home without spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Renters earning minimum wage have to work 99 hours per week or 2.5 full-time jobs to be able to afford to live in a 2-bedroom home.
Someone that spends more than 30% of their income on housing can be considered “house poor.” According to Rocket Mortgage, “house poor” refers to a circumstance in which a person is struggling to keep up with the expenses of of their home and has hardly any money left over to spend on other things.
The most renters earning the state minimum wage can afford to pay in rent is $846, which $1,251 less than the Fair Market Rent, according to the NLIHC.
But what if you’re looking to rent something smaller than a two-bedroom home? The housing wage necessary to afford a 1-bedroom home or a studio apartment in Washington is still above the state and renter wage. Renters looking to afford the cost of a 1-bedroom home must earn at least $33.77 per hour and at least $31.89 per hour to afford a studio apartment.
Top 7 most expensive areas in WA
Although the state hourly wage required to afford a 2-bedroom home is $40.32, that hourly wage requirement changes depending on the area that you are living in.
These are the seven most expensive areas in the State of Washington, according to the NLIHC report:
- Seattle-Bellevue — $50.87
- Bremerton-Silverdale — $39.40
- Vancouver — $38.21
- Tacoma — $38.21
- Olympia-Tumwater — $34.65
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes — $31.87
- Bellingham — $30.21
