Full-time workers earning minimum wage have a harder time renting a home in these 5 states

18 Sep Full-time workers earning minimum wage have a harder time renting a home in these 5 states

That earning minimum wage makes it hard to rent or own a home isn’t shocking, but a new analysis by LendingTree has pinpointed which states are better and worse for workers in this income bracket.

Researchers crunched the numbers by assuming a state’s hourly minimum-wage rates, multiplying it by 40 hours a week and by 52 weeks a year, and then assuming that an individual could afford spending as much as 30% of their gross monthly income on a place to live. That number then went up against median monthly homeowner costs or gross rent payments. Underpinning it all was data from the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Census Bureau.

Here’s a breakdown:

States where owning is least affordable on minimum wage

1. Hawaii
2. New Jersey
3. California
4. New Hampshire
5. Massachusetts

States where owning is most affordable on minimum wage

1. Arkansas
2. West Virginia
3. New Mexico
4. Missouri
5. Maine

States where renting is least affordable on minimum wage

1. Hawaii
2. California
3. Maryland
4. Florida
5. New Hampshire

States where renting is most affordable on minimum wage

1. Arkansas
2. Maine
3. West Virginia
4. South Dakota
5. Missouri

According to LendingTree, “In terms of raw dollars, owning and renting have become less affordable since 2000. The average difference between an affordable monthly payment for a minimum-wage worker and the median monthly homeowner costs for a home with a mortgage in 2000 was $771, while the difference between an affordable payment and the median gross rent was $296. In 2010, those differences were $1,072 and $423, respectively.”

Source: Fast Company