A new report finds that Maine renters must work more than two minimum wage jobs to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment in the state.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition calculates what’s known as the state’s housing wage — the full-time wages that a renter would need to earn to afford a two-bedroom home without paying more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities.
The coalition finds that renters must earn an hourly wage of $32.32, or $67,224 a year, to afford a two-bedroom rental at the fair market rate of $1,681 in Maine.
But on average, Maine renters earn far below that, an hourly wage of $18.29, according to the report. For those at the state’s minimum wage of $15.10, renters would have to work 86 hours a week to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment.
Just more than one-quarter of Mainers are renters, the coalition noted.
Unsurprisingly, “housing wages” are much higher in Maine’s urban centers and southern coastal areas. In the Portland area, renters would have to earn an hourly wage of $40.96 to afford a two-bedroom unit. In York County, Mainers would have to make $33 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental. In the Bangor area, the “housing wage” is $31.90.
Overall, the study ranks Maine as having the 19th highest “housing wages” in the country. Last year, Maine ranked 26th.
Nationally, the coalition found that renters on average earned an hourly wage of $24.84, nearly $10 less than the national “housing wage” of $34.73. Maine renters earned less than the average renter nationally. The gap between what Maine renters earn and what they would need to make in order to afford a typical two-bedroom also outpaced the national average.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.