At minimum wage, you’d have to work 100+ hours to afford Charlotte rent

Susie Webb
·2 min read

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Living in Charlotte isn’t cheap, and rent costs continue to rise.

A minimum wage worker ($7.25 an hour) would have to work 122 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom rental home or apartment, according to a new report.

That is up from 109 hours in 2019.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach” report investigates the gap between wages and housing access in the U.S.

To put it in perspective, a person earning only $7.25 an hour would need to work essentially three full-time jobs to afford the average two-bedroom rent in Charlotte.

The coalition’s data analysis shows that even earning $15 an hour and working full-time will leave the average Charlotte renter cost-burdened in housing.

Renters in Charlotte need to make at least $40,400 salary in order to afford an average one-bedroom home or apartment, the data show. Or 107 hours of work per week if you earn minimum wage.

For those living in Mecklenburg County and the surrounding area, the necessary wage in order to afford for a two-bedroom house is $22.13 per hour. That is higher the statewide average at $18.46. The coalition refers to this as the “Housing Wage,” which is “an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest rental home ... without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs, the accepted standard of affordability.”

Rent by ZIP codes

North Carolina has the 29th highest two-bedroom housing wage, according to the report.

Across the U.S., more than 60% of all wage and salary workers earn below the two-bedroom housing wage, the report said.

The wage needed to afford a two-bedroom house in Charlotte and surrounding towns varies by ZIP code.

Here’s what it is in different parts of the the county:

  • Elizabeth - $29.81

  • South End - $29.04

  • Huntersville - $26.73

  • Mallard Creek - $25.96

  • University - $25.58

  • Myers Park - $25.19

  • Matthews - $24.04

  • Pineville - $23.46

  • NoDa - $20.38

More information by ZIP code can be found at the coalition’s website, nlihc.org.

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Local data shows many Mecklenburg renters are cost-burned, which federal guidelines define as spending more than 30% on housing, including rent/mortgage payments and utilities.

While the rate of cost-burdened renters is increasing across all income levels, it affects the lowest income families most.

More than 90% of households earning less than $35,000 were cost burdened, according to the county’s 2020 State of Housing instability and Homelessness report. That decreased to 21% for households earning between $50,000 and $75,000.

Black and Latino households are cost-burdened at a higher rate than white households, the report found.