Coloradans Making Minimum Wage Must Work 95 Hours Per Week To Make Rent

DENVER (CBS4) - Rent is anything but affordable in Colorado, especially if you earn minimum wage.

According to the study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Coloradans must earn $21.97 per hour for a typical 40 hour work week, or work 95 hours at minimum wage, "in order to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental home."

That places Colorado twelfth nationally as the least affordable place for rent based on earnings, one of 17 states where people need to make more than $20 per hour.

"A renter earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would need to work 117 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home at the Fair Market Rent and 94.5 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom," the report states. "In only 12 counties can a full-time worker earning the prevailing federal or state minimum wage afford a one-bedroom rental home."

Hawaii ranks first nationally at $34.20, or 152 hours per week at the current minimum wage, in order to afford a place to rent.

The other ten states or districts ahead of Colorado are:

2. Washington, D.C.: $33.59 / 107 hours

3. California: $30.92 / 118 hours

4. Maryland: $28.27 / 122 hours

5. New York: $28.08 / 116 hours

6. Massachusetts: $27.39 / 100 hours

7. New Jersey: $27.31 / 129 hours

8. Connecticut: $24.72 / 98 hours

9. Alaska: $24.16 / 99 hours

10. Washington: $23.64 / 86 hours

11. Virginia: $23.29 / 128 hours