Housing Affordability by State
Select any state and see the gap between minimum wage and what it actually costs to afford a modest apartment. In no state can a minimum wage worker afford a two-bedroom home.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes the same finding every year: in no state, metro area, or county in the United States can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. The numbers change slightly. The conclusion doesn’t.
This visualization makes the gap visible. Not as a national average — as the specific numbers for wherever you live.
What You’re Looking At
The gap bar shows two numbers side by side: what a full-time minimum wage worker earns per hour in your state, and what they’d need to earn to spend no more than 30% of their income on a modest two-bedroom apartment. The 30% threshold is the standard definition of “affordable housing.”
The hours card tells you how many hours per week a minimum wage worker would need to put in to close that gap while working full time. In most states, it’s well over 40. In some, it’s over 100 — more than two full-time jobs, to afford a single apartment.
Why This Matters for Foundation
Housing is the 14th component of Foundation — and arguably the one that unlocks everything else. Children in stable housing do better in school. Adults with stable housing are healthier and more employable. The economic research on Housing First programs consistently shows it’s cheaper to house people than to manage the downstream consequences of instability.
The gap in this chart isn’t a market outcome. It’s a policy outcome. Wages haven’t kept pace with rents because the political economy of housing has prioritized appreciation over affordability for decades. Foundation’s housing component starts from a different premise: shelter is infrastructure, not a speculative asset.
Where the Data Comes From
All figures from NLIHC Out of Reach 2025. Housing wages are calculated from HUD Fair Market Rents. State minimum wages from the Economic Policy Institute. Data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Source: NLIHC Out of Reach 2025
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