People who live in the D.C. area need to earn a higher hourly wage to afford housing than those in almost anywhere else in the country, a new report says.
An annual report from The National Low Income Housing Coalition says that in the D.C. metropolitan area, a full-time worker must earn $34.48 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental while spending no more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. That area includes Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia.
To be able to afford the rent alone, D.C. residents would have to work 2.6 full-time jobs at minimum wage, the report says.
Only Hawaii has a higher "housing wage," which is how the coalition refers to the measurement.
In 2018, the national average was $22.10 per hour. But the average wage of renters in the United States was only $16.88.
In Maryland, a person must earn $29.04 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental, making the state the fifth most expensive. Virginia ranks at No. 12, at $23.69.
