The average Massachusetts resident would need to make $33.81 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental residence at the fair market rent, according to a new study.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition released a “2019 Out of Reach” report, which found that in Massachusetts, the average two-bedroom apartment costs $1,758.
In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without spending more than 30 percent of a given income on housing costs, the average household in the commonwealth must earn $5,861 each month, or $70,333 each year.
Of the nearly 2.6 million households in the state, the study reports about 38 percent are inhabited by renters, not owners. The estimated “housing wage,” or wage needed to afford market rent, varies widely by region of the state.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen A. Theoharides pushed for legislation that would raise the tax and allocate the funds to the Global Warming Solutions Trust Fund, created through the environmental bond bill passed in 2018.
The NLIHC found that in the Boston, Cambridge and Quincy area, the average person would need to make closer to $42.19 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental, or more than $87,000 per year. A one-bedroom property in the Boston metro requires an hourly pay closer to $34.63, or a salary of $72,040, the report says.
Rent costs in other areas of the state are drastically less expensive, but according to the study, still require an hourly pay that surpasses the state’s $12 per hour minimum wage.
In Worcester, the “Out of Reach” report found that the cost to rent a two-bedroom home requires an hourly pay of $23.12, or a salary around $48,080. In Springfield, the cost of a two-bedroom home requires an hourly pay of around $20.40, or $42,440.
Authors of the report said they calculated the “housing wage” estimates using the Housing and Urban Development’s fair market rent and a metric of affordability that says rent should not cost more than 30 percent of a person’s income.
The report labeled Massachusetts as the third worst state to rent in. Take a look at the data here.
(Graphic courtesy National Low Income Housing Coalition)
