Rate Your State

Each year the National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes a report called "Out of Reach," which helps quantify the difficulty millions of Americans experience when seeking an adequate, affordable place to live.

Listed below are the housing wages for each state in the United States, as well as the District of Columbia. The housing wage represents the amount a full-time worker must earn per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent, without paying more than 30 percent of his or her income for housing. The national housing wage for 2004 was $15.37, almost three times the federal minimum wage. Additional columns of information provide further perspective into the housing burdens so many people face.




Source: The National Low Income Housing Coalition. To read more about "Out of Reach" or to order your copy, visit www.nlihc.org or call (202) 662-1530. Fair Market Rents are gross rent estimates; they include rent itself and the cost of utilities, excluding telephone.
*Because the minimum wage is higher in these states, FMRs have been adjusted to reflect those amounts.