The Most Affordable Cities for Minimum-Wage Renters Will Surprise You

While the current housing market has put home ownership out of many people’s reach, the rising cost of renting a home is also hurting people’s wallets — and a new study found that none of the 50 major cities in the U.S. were affordable enough for minimum-wage employees to spend 30% of their monthly salary on rent. (The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines affordable housing as housing you pay no more than 30% of your gross income for).

But it’s not all terrible news, and there are some solutions to the problems. The same study found that the most affordable cities for minimum-wage renters all have something not so surprising in common, and one city on the list stands out in a good way.

To accurately rate the cities based on their affordability, real estate company Clever conducted research on the 50 biggest housing markets nationwide, and compared the cost of an average rental unit with that city’s minimum wage. 

While the national minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, or just $19,000 a year, 30 states have passed their own minimum wage laws. Unsurprisingly, in areas with a comparatively high minimum wage and rent costs that weren’t too high, lower-income earners were more comfortably able to afford housing.

1. Buffalo, New York
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Hartford, Connecticut
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
5. Providence, Rhode Island
6-8. A three-way tie between Cincinnati; Cleveland, Ohio; and Kansas City, Missouri
9. Denver, Colorado
10. Detroit, Michigan

Clever named Buffalo, New York, as the U.S.’s most affordable city for minimum-wage workers, citing data that showed that people making the $15-per-hour minimum wage would spend about 39% of their income to afford the area’s typical $1,001 one-bedroom. Shockingly, only runners-up St. Louis, Missouri, and Hartford, Connecticut, required a person to spend less than 50% of their minimum-wage salary on a typical rental unit. 

A St. Louis worker would need to spend 46% of their $12.30/hour salary on a typical $984 apartment, while a Hartford worker would spend 48% of their $15.69 hourly income on a $1,306 one bedroom. 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a standout on the list, mostly because it was recently ranked to be the happiest city in the United States. The city was named the happiest city in the United States because it ranked “particularly high in the citizens, economy, and mobility categories.” It also ranked high in factors such as “social inclusion,” and boasts a solid education system, access to culture, and public transportation, plus a “comparatively” affordable cost of living.

Minneapolis came in as a close fourth for affordable cities — for a single minimum-wage worker, 51% of their $15.57 minimum wage would go towards a $1,381 one-bedroom apartment, the average cost of a one-bedroom in the city. 

The study found that for full-time workers living with a roommate or a significant other, only the top nine cities on the list would be truly affordable (where both would contribute 30% or less of their income for a one-bedroom space).

1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Nashville, Tennessee
3. Austin, Texas
4. Charlotte, North Carolina
5. Raleigh, North Carolina
6. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7. Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Houston, Texas

Lower minimum wages generally tended to align with lower affordability across the board. Cities like Milwaukee (ranked 30), Louisville (ranked 33), and Pittsburgh (ranked 32) were more unaffordable for minimum-wage workers despite having relatively affordable rent costs.

But it’s not just about wages — most workers in cities like Seattle (ranked 15) and San Francisco (ranked 26), with a $19.97 and $20.96 hourly wage, respectively, couldn’t afford the steep $2,293 and $2,780 rental prices.

Clever found that in cities like Atlanta, the least affordable city for renters earning minimum wage, full-time minimum-wage workers need 132% of their pay to afford an average one-bedroom rental. To put that into perspective, the study found that 4.38 full-time minimum-wage salaries would be needed to meet the 30% affordability factor for that space. 

In light of its findings, Clever also recommended that the federal government raise the minimum wage to $10.59 from the $7.25 that’s been around since July 2009.