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Out of Reach 2011
Elina Bravve, Research Assistant
Megan DeCrappeo, Research Analyst
Danilo Pelletiere, Research Director, Chief Economist
Sheila Crowley, President
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Today more than 38 million households rent their homes, 1.9 million more
than in 2007. The current rate of homeownership (66.5%) is now at the lowest
level since 1998. And with the foreclosure crisis and recession on the one hand
and the aging of the baby boom and the coming of age of the echo boom on the
other, the demand for rental housing is only projected to grow. Out of Reach is a
side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan
Area (MSAs/HMFAs), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United
States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money
a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit in a range of sizes
(0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based
on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than
30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage
a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom home is derived.
This figure is the Housing Wage.
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Click here for previous versions of Out of Reach
Established in 1974, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. NLIHC is committed to educating, organizing, and advocating to ensure safe, decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone.
NLIHC provides up-to-date information, formulates policy and educates the public on housing needs and strategies for solutions.
Additional copies of Out of Reach are available from NLIHC.
Permission to reprint portions of this report or the data therein is granted, provided appropriate credit is given to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Support for this research was provided by the Housing Assistance Council.
