$12.98
Hourly wage for the typical renter in Raleigh–Cary
33%
Households in Wake County that are renters52%
Renters in Raleigh-Cary who do not earn enough to
afford a 2-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent
$878
Cost of a 2-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent
$12.55
Hourly wage of the typical renter in N.C., $1.62 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a decent unit
$213
Amount North Carolinians who receive Social Security Income can afford to pay in rent
Last week the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a D.C.-based research and advocacy group for affordable housing, released a report detailing the Housing Wage and other housing affordability data for all 50 states. The report is called Out of Reach 2013, and the North Carolina Housing Coalition will attest that for many renters in the state, affordable housing is out of their grasp.
As defined in the report, the Housing Wage is “the estimated full-time hourly wage a household must earn to afford a decent rental unit at [federal Housing and Urban Development-estimated] Fair Market Rent, while spending no more than 30% of their income on housing costs.”
The Housing Wage for a two-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent in North Carolina$14.17is below the 2013 National Housing Wage of $18.79 (and well below that of densely populated states like California and New York). But according to the N.C. Housing Coalition, high rents, especially in urban areas such as the Triangle, make it difficult for low-income renters to find affordable housing in a market that they are increasingly being squeezed out of.
