Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Alamy Stock Photo
- Monthly rent (2br):$733
- Annual income:$36,975
- Hourly wage:$18.70
- Work hours per week:35.0
Methodology
Monthly rental prices for each city were sourced from Zillow. The prices shown are for 2-bedroom apartments in 2017. Median household income and mean hours worked were sourced from the latest U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Using median household income and mean hours worked, an approximation for effective hourly wage was determined. Assuming the 28% rule, which states that a household should spend a maximum of 28% of its gross income on housing expenses, the number of work hours needed per week to afford rent was determined using the monthly rent for each city combined with its effective hourly wage. Cities without rental listing data from Zillow were not included. Cities with fewer than 100,000 people were excluded as well.
