New York is the Third Most Expensive State for Renters Behind California and Hawaii

New York is the third most expensive state for renters, a nationwide analysis shows, requiring a person making minimum wage to work the equivalent of three full-time jobs to afford a two-bedroom unit at fair market rent.

Those statistics are largely unchanged from a year ago, despite a statewide push to improve housing affordability.

Fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in New York state is nearly $2,400, according to the nationwide study published recently by the National Low income Housing Association. While major metro areas push that rent figure higher, it highlights the level of rent burden, on average. Someone working full-time at the state’s $15.50 minimum wage could afford $800 in monthly rent without paying more than 30% of their income on housing, the report shows.

The current fair market outlook puts New York behind California and Hawaii for the most expensive states to rent based on average wages and rental prices in each state.

Rental rates in the greater Westchester County and New York City areas largely drove the statewide disparities. But rental prices continue to rise in other parts of the state. In Monroe County, for example, fair market rent is about $1,500. In non-metropolitan areas, a person would have to earn about $20 an hour to be able to afford rent for a two-bedroom unit.

The rising rents in New York mirror a worsening nationwide trend.

“Nowhere in the United States — no state, metropolitan area or county — can a full-time minimum-wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent,” the report states.

Experts behind the study warn that cuts to federal housing programs will exacerbate homelessness rates that are already at “record levels.”

The proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “would decimate … (HUD’s) vital programs, implement unnecessary barriers to maintaining housing assistance, and push more of the nation’s lowest income seniors, people with disabilities, families, veterans, caregivers, and low-wage workers into homelessness,” Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver wrote in the report.

Rising rent prices in New York come as housing prices are increasing in the Northeast and Midwest. That’s according to a recent analysis made by ResiClub looking at Zillow housing reports. But housing prices are falling in the western and southern parts of the country, most prominently in Florida.

Story by Jeongyoon Han/Ne York Public News Network

Jeongyoon Han is a Capitol News Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network, producing multimedia stories on issues of statewide interest and importance.

Image: A house with a sold sign in front yard in Rochester’s Upper Mount Hope neighborhood. (Credit: James Brown/WXXI News)