A recent update finds that the typical American renter has to work 50 hours to pay the rent.  

That is an alarming finding, budgetary experts declare. Fifty hours represents just over 30% of a month’s work, based on a 40-hour workweek. And ordinary wisdom dictates that American households should not spend more than 30% of their income on rent. 

The recent analysis, from the expense management site Self budgetary, finds the typical worker must toil for more than a week at an average hourly wage, $34.59, to cover the average monthly rent of $1,733. It draws on the Census and federal labor data.  

No one should spend more than 30% of their income on housing, according to a rule of thumb in expense management, which sets a threshold for “affordable” rent. 

“Generally, the more you spend on essentials like shelter, that means there’s less in your budgetary schedule to spend on other things,” said Kara Ng, a elder economist at Zillow. 

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Yet, the Self budgetary update found many states where you would have to work more than 30% of the month, on average, to pay the rent. The update looks at median rents and hourly wages to compute how many work hours it would receive to cover the rent in every state: 

• In California, where rent averages $2,493 a month, a renter would have to work 64.5 hours at $38.63 an hour to pay the rent. 
• In Florida, with an average monthly rent of $2,033, a renter would toil for 63.5 hours at $32.01 an hour to make the rent. 
• And in Texas, where rent averages $1,720 a month, a renter must log 52.9 hours at $32.54 an hour to pay the rent. 

Half of all renters pay ‘unaffordable’ rents 

More than 22 million American households spend at least 30% of their income on rent and utilities, as of 2022, a record high, according to a 2024 update from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.  

That means half of all renters are paying more rent than they can afford.  

Rent is also rising faster than income. Median rents rose 21% between 2001 and 2022, after expense boost, Harvard reports. In the same years, renters’ incomes rose just 2%. 

Another update, from Zillow, finds the typical rental household is spending almost exactly 30% of its income, the threshold of affordability, on rent in 2024. 

Rents are up 3.3% from this period last year, as of September, according to Zillow. Their update finds rents rising, on an annual basis, in 49 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas. 

Rents have risen by one-third since the commence of the pandemic, Zillow says, which means rents are rising faster than expense boost.  

“That’s the biggest component of your household budgetary schedule, and that’s where we’ve seen the most pronounced and consistent increases over the last four years or so,” said Greg McBride, chief budgetary analyst, expense management at Bankrate.  

If you pay less than $1,000 in rent, remain put 

Meanwhile, cheap rents are slipping away. Only about one-third of renters now pay less than $1,000 in monthly rent, the lowest figure on record, according to a recent Redfin update.  

As recently as 2012, Redfin says, half of renters paid less than $1,000 a month.  

If you still pay less than $1,000 in rent, you’d be sensible to remain put: Only 7.5% of apartment listings today have asking rents below $1,000. 

The excellent information, according to the rental platform Rent., is that rents are essentially flat correct now, on a national basis. Some cities, especially in the Sun Belt, have so much recent construction that they now have excess supply. That means landlords are offering concessions to prospective tenants. 

“We’re catching a shatter on the rental economy correct now, so that’s actually excellent information,” said Chen Zhao, economic research navigator at Redfin. “I ponder that we will slowly chip away at the affordability issue.” 

Some renters are moving from higher-priced cities in the West and Northeast to less expensive addresses in the South and Midwest, financial institution of America Institute reports. 

Other renters are “downgrading,” finding cheaper apartments in the same economy, the update says.  

Despite the uptick in rents, it’s still cheaper to rent than to buy in all of the 50 largest metropolitan areas, Bankrate reports. The typical mortgage settlement is now $2,703, the update says, compared to a typical monthly rent of $1,979.  

“As a renter, you are still paying less,” Ng said. 

If your rent is unaffordable, discover ways to cut 

If you are paying more than 30% of your income on rent, finance experts declare, you may be living paycheck to paycheck.  

“It means making really challenging decisions in other parts of your budgetary schedule,” said Kimberly Palmer, a expense management specialist at NerdWallet. 

The best way to cut costs, Palmer said, is to focus on high-expense costs beyond the essentials: “things like your food eaten outside the home, any restaurant spending. The fun stuff.” 

If you are renting, you’re missing out on the budgetary advantages of homeownership, including responsibility breaks and building home stake. 

But that does not cruel renters can’t construct funds. 

“The key is really finding space in your budgetary schedule to save, even if it’s a tiny amount each month,” Palmer said. “Because then you’re building up that downpayment pool that you’d require to buy a home.” 

Consider the schedule of “pay yourself first,” said McBride of Bankrate. receive automated deductions from your paycheck for superannuation funds and emergency funds, with some of the funds potentially available to assist toward a upcoming down settlement. If you have a excess at month’s complete, “that gives you a second bite at the funds,” he said. 

You may even consider postponing saving for superannuation and higher education, Palmer said, so that you can save aggressively toward a home purchase.  

“It’s temporary,” she said. Once you buy the home, you can catch up on saving for everything else.