Minnesota Rental Rates Among Nation’s Highest
Ever wonder how much a person would need to make per hour in order to afford a decent place to live? A recent study has come out that answers that question, and it turns out that Minnesota is among the more expensive places to rent.
The 255-page report, titled "Out of Reach 2016" and released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, breaks down the average cost to rent a two-bedroom apartment in each state, comparing the figure to other data, including the state's minimum wage to figure out how much it costs to find residence in each state.
In Minnesota, a person must make $17.76 an hour to be able to afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. That's nearly double the $9.00 per hour minimum wage salary listed for Minnesota in the study.
The highest costs for housing in the state can be found in the Twin Cities, which probably comes as no surprise. The hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is nearly $20. What might surprise you is that the next three most expensive spots listed in the study are Rice County, Dodge County and Olmsted County. All come in at just under $17.50 an hour to afford that two-bedroom apartment.
And Minnesota's $17.76 figure is much higher than the costs of our neighbors. South Dakota and Iowa are among the least expensive states, hovering either side of the $14.00 per hour mark. That figure is just north of $15.50 in North Dakota and Wisconsin.
So, sure, Minnesota has a lot of amenities that make it worth living here. But this is a stark reminder that we pay for those. Sometimes much more than our neighbors...
In terms of the most expensive states in the country, California, New York and Maryland top the list, at $28.59, $26.69 and $26.53 respectively.