One-parent households in 29 states need to earn more than $15/hour to afford a decent apartment

One-parent households in the U.S. earning less than $13 per hour on a 40-hour work week could only comfortably afford a decent two-bedroom apartment in one state—Arkansas, and that would require earning $12.95 per hour, says a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. If a one-parent household worker in Arkansas earned minimum wage, he or she would need to work 54 hours per week to afford that same apartment.

Workers in Hawaii would need to earn $31.61, in California $26.65, in New York $25.67 and in Alaska $22.55 to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment, while those earning minimum wage in Hawaii would need to work 125 hours per week, Maryland 101 hours and New Jersey and Washington, D.C., 100 hours. (National Low Income Housing Coalition map: Wages needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment)

Employees in 29 states and Washington, D.C., would need to earn at least $15.16 an hour to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment. In 10 states employees would need to earn at least $14.13, and in another 10 they would need to earn at least $13.14. The least amount of hours a minimum wage worker would need to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment would be in South Dakota, where they would need to work 49 hours per week.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition "defines housing affordability as paying less than 30 percent of your income to housing, a common standard for the industry, and it assumes a 'fair market rent' as defined by Department of Housing and Urban Development," Ana Swanson reports for The Washington Post.

"Workers making the minimum wage and working a 40-hour week would not be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment in any state without paying more than 30 percent of their income," Swanson writes. (Hours a minimum wage worker would need to afford a two-bedroom apartment)