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Anyone looking to rent these days knows how expensive it can be, especially in South Florida. And, if you earn minimum wage, it’s nearly impossible. So, where can someone who earns minimum wage rent?
According to listwithclever.com, none of the country’s 50 largest cities offer one-bedroom rentals that meet the common affordability standard of 30% of a local full-time minimum wage worker’s incomes.
Buffalo, New York, comes the closest. It requires 39% of a minimum wage worker’s income for a typical one-bedroom unit. Minimum wage there is $15 an hour. It’s one of just three cities where this percentage falls below 50%, along with St. Louis, Missouri (46%) and Hartford, Connecticut (49%).
Minimum wages in the largest 50 cities range from $7.25 in 18 cities to as much as $20.96 in San Francisco.
The least expensive on the list in Florida is Jacksonville. But even there, where the minimum wage is $12 an hour, rent still eats up 70% of a worker’s income. Tampa, where minimum wage is also $12, came in at 81%, followed by Orlando at 83% and the same minimum wage. Miami squeaked into the top 50, with a $12 minimum wage taking up 91% of a worker’s income.
Dead last on the list is Atlanta, where the minimum wage is $7.25 and a one-bedroom apartment eats up a staggering 132% of a worker’s earnings.