Real Estate

NYC rent is so high, minimum wage workers now have to clock over 100 hours

In most American cities, minimum wage workers can clock in more than 50 hours a week and can afford rent on a one-bedroom home. But New York City tells an entirely different story.

Rent is so absurdly high across the five boroughs that minimum-wage workers would need to work no fewer than 111 hours per week just to afford a one-bedroom, according to a recent survey by United Way.

The minimum wage in New York City stands at $15, and average rents for an apartment in Manhattan run $4,000 per month.

“While rents have certainly backed off their summer 2022 highs, the current median asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan remains close to $4,000, which, even at $25 per hour, would still require a month of full-time, 40-hour work weeks to pay the rent,” John Walkup, co-founder of real estate data analytics firm UrbanDigs, told The Post.

“As the slower winter season comes into focus, Manhattan rents should ease more, but the probability of rents reverting back to, or even near, pandemic-era lows is low,” he added.

Here's how many hours of work are needed to afford a one-bedroom rental across 10 US cities.
Here’s how many hours of work are needed to afford a one-bedroom rental across 10 US cities. Getty Images/iStockphoto/NY Post composite

Using data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, United Way calculated the number of hours a minimum wage worker would need to put in each week in order to afford rent in the 50 biggest US cities.

While New York City remains in the top five of the least affordable, San Jose, California takes the cake at 141 hours — despite having the highest minimum wage earnings in the country at $16.20 per hour.

Dallas comes in as the second least affordable following a massive shift to that city in recent years. Minimum wage there runs $7.25 and 112 hours are needed to afford a one-bedroom unit in the area, according to United Way.