Georgia minimum wage workers can't afford 2-bedroom apartment, report says

ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia residents need to earn $17.53/hour to afford a modest 2-bedroom apartment. At minimum wage, you'd have to work 97 hours per week to afford that apartment.

That is according to a new report from report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which found minimum wage workers currently cannot afford a two-bed apartment anywhere in Georgia or the entire United States.

The report ranks the Peach State as the state with the 27th highest housing wage.

The staggering gap between wages and the cost of housing nationwide has created a significant problem for most American families.

The report, released on Wednesday, details how it is virtually impossible for someone working a 40-hour week and earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 to afford renting a modest 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country.

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In order to afford such an apartment, renters would have to earn a wage of $22.10 per hour. The current average cost of a two-bedroom apartment is $14.85 higher than the federal minimum wage and $5.22 higher than the estimated average hourly wage of 16.88 earned by renters nationwide.

The report lists Hawaii as the most expensive state with $36.13/hour required to afford a 2-bedroom and Arkansas as the least expensive with $13.84/hour need for a 2-bedroom.

Reporting from WSOC-TV and Boston 25 contributed to this story.

Cox Media Group