Report: Millenials in Greenville, Anderson don't earn enough to rent 1-bedroom apartment

Tamia Boyd, Greenville News
·2 min read

The Greenville and Anderson area, like many others across the U.S., is among mid-sized metros with large renter wage gap among millennials, according to a new report.

The gap reflects the difference between what a typical rental costs and what the typical worker can afford, and there's 9.4% to make up in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin market, according to researchers at Filterbuy.

To determine the locations with the largest millennial renter wage gap, researchers calculated the percentage difference between the median wage for millennial renters and the median wage necessary to afford a one-bedroom rental without spending more than 30% of wages on rent.

In a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an organization dedicated on educating about affordable housing crisis, South Carolina ranked No. 28, in highest housing wage.
In a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an organization dedicated on educating about affordable housing crisis, South Carolina ranked No. 28, in highest housing wage.

The analysis found that the wage needed to rent a one-bedroom unit in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin metro area is $33,520 per year — 9.4% more than the median annual wage of $30,366 for local millennial renters.

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Data for the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin metro area:

  • Millennial renter wage gap: -9.4%

  • Millennial renter median wage: $30,366

  • Annual wage needed to afford a 1-bedroom rental: $33,520

  • Median 1-bedroom rent: $838

  • Percentage of millennials in rented housing: 23.0%

For reference, here is data for the entire U.S.:

  • Millennial renter wage gap: -20.6%

  • Millennial renter median wage: $34,555

  • Annual wage needed to afford a 1-br rental: $43,547

  • Median 1-bedroom rent: $1,089

  • Percentage of millennials in rented housing: 27.2%

Marketplace challenges for renters are being experienced by all age groups, researchers found, but members of the millennial age group, ages 26 to 41, experience greater financial difficulties than other age groups, like lost earning potential after the Great Recession and historically high debt. And 27.2% of millennials in the U.S. are renters, a greater percentage than the other age groups.

A report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition recently found many South Carolina residents find suitable housing to be out of reach because of their income.

In the Greenville area, a 2020 report from the Greenville Housing Fund, a nonprofit entity that works to create and preserve affordable housing, has shown there's a significant disparity between the number of households that earn less than 30% of the city's area median income and the number of affordable units available.

Tamia Boyd is a Michigan native who covers breaking news in Greenville. Email her at tboyd@gannett.com, and follow her on Twitter @tamiamb. 

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Millennial renter wage gap in Greenville, Anderson and Mauldin