In order to afford a two-bedroom home in Texas, renters earning the minimum wage would have to work 107 hours per week, according to a new study.
In Texas, the for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,005 a month, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. To afford that — without spending more than 30 percent of income on their housing — Texans would need to make $19.32 an hour (or $40,185 a year).
However, the average wage of Texas renters is lower — $18.20 an hour, according to the study.
And the gap is worse for Texans earning the minimum wage, which remains $7.25 an hour. These Texans would have to work almost three full-time minimum-wage jobs to cover the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment. For a one-bedroom, they would have to work two full-time jobs or 86 hours per week.
This problem isn’t unique to Texas. The minimum wage doesn’t cover rent .
Rent and wages in North Texas
The gap between rent and income varies across the state. The most expensive areas, according to the report, are Midland, Austin-Round Rock, Odessa, Kendall County and Brazoria County. Texans in those areas have to earn between $21.48 and $26.31 an hour to afford rent.
In Dallas County, renters have to earn more ($20.71 an hour or $43,080 a year) and pay more ($1,077 a month) for a two-bedroom apartment than the statewide average. Renters in Dallas County on average make $23.99 an hour.
But it’s a different story depending on where someone lives in the county and Dallas proper.
For example, renters should be earning $31.15 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the Dallas Arts District area, where unemployment is low and the median household income is almost $85,000.
In West Dallas, where almost a third of the population lives in poverty, renters should make $16.54 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at a fair market rent of $860.
For Dallas residents earning the minimum wage, an affordable monthly rent is $377, according to the report.
In Tarrant County, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment ($1,054 a month) is also higher than the statewide average. The hourly wage necessary to afford that is $20.27, but the average hourly wage among renters in Tarrant County is $16.64 — making for a larger gap between housing costs and earnings than the state overall.
Like Dallas County, stark differences in housing costs and earnings are just a zip code away in Tarrant County.
(under the map) to see how different areas of North Texas and the state compare.
Learn more
Explore the and Texas data and .
For an in-depth discussion on affordable housing, listen to this episode of ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôºâ€™s with Bryce Covert, who wrote about how the current crisis came to be for .
ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº reported on the affordable housing issue in West Dallas last year in the series, "."