Minimum Wage Workers Cannot Afford to Live Alone

In many major U.S. cities, minimum wage workers need to clock in over 50 hours each week just to be able to afford rent on a one-bedroom home, a recent survey conducted by United Way of the National Capital Area found.

In New York City, minimum wage earners would need to work 111 hours to afford to rent a one-bedroom.

United Way used data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition to calculate the number of hours a minimum wage worker would need to put in each week in order to afford rent in the 50 biggest U.S. cities.

There are only two cities on the list where a worker earning minimum wage can afford to work less than 50 hours a week: Tucson, Arizona, and Buffalo, New York.

Here’s a look at how many hours a minimum wage worker needs to clock to afford a one-bedroom rental in the 10 largest U.S. cities based upon the prevailing minimum wage in each respective city: New York – 111, Los Angeles – 84, Chicago – 112, Houston – 104, Phoenix- 65, Philadelphia – 110, San Antonio – 97, San Diego – 90, Dallas – 120, San Jose – 141