In the United States, how much would you expect to pay for a one- or two-bedroom apartment? In the two years following the COVID-19 outbreak, rents across the country have soared, and this trend shows no signs of abating in August. This week, Rent.com researcher Jon Leckie stated on FOX Television Stations, “Rent costs are absolutely up, and up quite dramatically.” According to Rent.com’s most recent monthly report, the average cost of a one-bedroom in August 2022 is $1,769, a 39% increase from the same month in 2021. Meanwhile, the national average for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,105 per month in August, up 38 per cent from a year ago. Leckie claims rents have followed the trend of rising housing prices. Rents are going higher because more people are being priced out of the housing market.
“It seems like the property market has reached its top, and people are now saying, “It’s too costly, I can’t afford it.” Mortgage rates are too volatile, therefore they are either staying in the rental market or selling at a premium because they have opted to wait to buy until the market settles down “This was clarified by Leckie.
Where may one find the highest rental costs?
Though rents across the country as a whole have increased, this is not the case in every part of the United States. According to second research from Rent.com listing the top 100 most costly places in which to find an apartment, the majority (58%) of these high-rent locales are located on the West Coast. California is home to 41 of the top 100 cities in the United States. Of the most costly rental markets, 28% are located in the South, with Florida home to the largest share (57%) of these cities.
Several are located in or near major technological centres, which, given the industry’s high incomes and constant growth during the epidemic, has kept rents high and housing supplies scarce. Only 13 of the 100 cities in the United States with the highest rent were located in the Northeast, and those cities included Bayonne, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Quincy, Massachusetts.
How much do you need to earn? For low-income employees, the cost of housing is prohibitive
Meanwhile, the gap between minimum wage and the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in all 50 states is laid bare in a new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a housing advocacy group. The “Out of Reach” report for 2022 provides a “Housing Pay” estimate, which is the hourly wage a full-time worker would need to earn in order to afford a rental house without spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. The fair market rent used is based on data from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and provides a good approximation of what a new renter in a comparably located rental unit in the current market may anticipate paying.
The analysis estimates that in 2022, a full-time worker will need to make $25.82 per hour to rent a modest two-bedroom house, given the aforementioned criteria. It also states that a person has to make $21.25 per hour to rent a modest one-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of their salary on housing costs. “The National Housing Wage for a two-bedroom home is significantly more than the Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 per hour. The Housing Wage for a two-bedroom is $34.90 per hour, or more than three and a half times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour “as stated in the study. According to the research, there is not a single state, metro region, or county in the United States where a person earning the federal minimum wage (or prevailing state or local minimum wage) can afford a basic two-bedroom rental house at HUD’s fair market rent by working a regular 40-hour work week. In addition, the survey notes that in 91% of counties in the United States, these employees cannot afford even a basic one-bedroom apartment.