Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A Minimum Wage Earner In L.A. Needs To Work 89 Hours A Week To Afford An Apartment
Remember this apartment in Palms? (Photo by mondolind via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr)
()
Yeah, yeah. We know you've heard it before. It's expensive to rent in L.A. It's getting more expensive to rent in L.A. It's probably too expensive for you to rent in L.A.
But what about some hard numbers?
A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reveals how a person working in a minimum wage job ($10 per hour) would need to work an astounding 89(!!!) hours each week just to afford an average, market-rate 1-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles County. That works out to be just under 13 hours each day if the hypothetical person works seven days a week, and just shy of 18 hours a day if the person were to work five days. NLIHC's assumed market rate for a 1-bedroom rental in L.A. County is $1,154.
To view the crunch a different way, a person needs to earn $22.19 hourly to afford a market rate 1-bedroom, while keeping within the federally outlined guidelines that recommend a person spend no more than 1/3 of their household income on housing. For a 2-bedroom apartment, this number goes up to $28.65.
Support for LAist comes from
L.A.'s (and California's) minimum wage will be increasing to $15 an hour over the next few years. But even $15 hourly wouldn't be enough for a person to afford a standard 1-bedroom, or even a studio apartment, without working nearly 80 hours each week.
The impossibility of affordability in Los Angeles is no secret. Rents are continuing to increase without much of an end in sight, and will continue to as long as those with money are able to pay the rate. On the flip side, those who aren't able to pay get squeezed out of the market and are forced to either move out to the far-flung suburbs, or take shelter with multiple roommates. It's no coincidence homelessness is also spiking. As housing becomes broadly unaffordable, people run out of options.
Of course, it could always be worse. The Bay Area has it even worse than Los Angeles. Where a 1-bedroom apartment in L.A. requires a person to make $22.19 hourly, one in Alameda County—where the going rate for 1-bedroom apartments is $1,663 monthly—would demand a $32 hourly wage to keep within federal work/financial guidelines.
But then again, who really works less than 40 hours a week or pays less than a third of their income on housing?
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist