50 States + DC + Puerto Rico ranked by minimum hourly wage required to afford 2-bedroom housing

[mawilson 2,133]

I am poor, uncle sam pays for part of my mortgage in the form of a tax deduction on my mortgage interest. I guess that's my subsidized housing!

Thank you, Uncle Sam!

Yeah, really. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for stealing a big chunk of my money and then giving

back a smaller chunk in the form of a tax deduction on my mortgage interest.

[rebeccajo 14]

I live in WV, one of the states at the bottom.

The figure for our state, if you take into account taxes and the like, would give someone a monthly take-home wage of about $1350.00 per month.

I would say it would be a stretch to be able to find a decent two bedroom apartment in our city for $400 per month.

Even if you could, that would leave $950 for your car payment, insurance, health insurance, utilities, groceries and killer gasoline.

If you're going to look at 'minimum' housing, also take into account the minimum lifestyle that must be going along with it.

As an aside, it's not the 'shoe salesmen' we really should be wondering about. There are fewer and fewer children training to be the 'infrastructure' keepers. In 50 years, who is going to be available to build roads, wire homes, run plumbing lines and the like? There will ALWAYS be a need for laborers and our society/lifestyle is diminishing their worthiness and skills everyday.

Edited April 16, 2008 by rebeccajo

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

In 50 years, who is going to be available to build roads, wire homes, run plumbing lines and the like? There will ALWAYS be a need for laborers and our society/lifestyle is diminishing their worthiness and skills everyday.

Americans should focus on bigger and better.

For the smaller and lesser, we'll always have....

[rebeccajo 14]

In 50 years, who is going to be available to build roads, wire homes, run plumbing lines and the like? There will ALWAYS be a need for laborers and our society/lifestyle is diminishing their worthiness and skills everyday.

Americans should focus on bigger and better.

For the smaller and lesser, we'll always have....

AJ, I think that's a really flip comment to make.

According to my husband, in the UK it's difficult to find tradespeople. The 'work trends' over there have preceeded our own here - ie manufacturing/labor jobs going down the drain and young people turning to service work. The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

[rebeccajo 14]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

Well then, as long as we have all the immigrants to do our 'less than desireable' jobs, we should be ok then.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

Well then, as long as we have all the immigrants to do our 'less than desireable' jobs, we should be ok then.

Are you kidding? Plumbers make a mint, at least in the UK. Nothing "less than desirable" than earning 70 quid an hour. Of course there's a whole argument that the "polish plumber" is depressing these wages in the UK, and elswhere in the EU. THe debate about how true that might be rages. Of course, the Poles are legal immigrants.

[almaty 19]

i am always looking for cheap labor on my fences and house projects......

[almaty 19]

i am always looking for cheap labor on my fences and house projects......

[one...two...tree 2,762]

As an aside, it's not the 'shoe salesmen' we really should be wondering about. There are fewer and fewer children training to be the 'infrastructure' keepers. In 50 years, who is going to be available to build roads, wire homes, run plumbing lines and the like? There will ALWAYS be a need for laborers and our society/lifestyle is diminishing their worthiness and skills everyday.

I agree with the last part, but I'm also wondering why retail clerk jobs, like the shoe salesman, have also seen their wages drop dramatically. (Dan answered that question though above)

My argument is that this is why the Middle Class is being squeezed out ...jobs that were considered part of the blue collar jobs have moved to the bottom of society - the working poor.

[rebeccajo 14]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

Well then, as long as we have all the immigrants to do our 'less than desireable' jobs, we should be ok then.

Are you kidding? Plumbers make a mint, at least in the UK. Nothing "less than desirable" than earning 70 quid an hour. Of course there's a whole argument that the "polish plumber" is depressing these wages in the UK, and elswhere in the EU. THe debate about how true that might be rages. Of course, the Poles are legal immigrants.

Robin, the question I was trying to raise is whether in the future there will be enough of these individuals.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

My argument is that this is why the Middle Class is being squeezed out ...jobs that were considered part of the blue collar jobs have moved to the bottom of society - the working poor.

With all due respect, though, jobs that didn't exist in that long gone era do exist today and make up a huge part of the new middle class. Even if you factor in outsourcing, it's created yet newer jobs that didn't exist when I got out of college less than a decade ago. My first job out of college didn't exist when my dad came to this country in the 70s. And the job I have today didn't exist when I graduated college.

Things change, People change. Stop being bitter... quit clinging to the past

Yesterday's shoe salesman can either join the modern economy or move back in to mommy's basement.

Robin, the question I was trying to raise is whether in the future there will be enough of these individuals.

If there is ever a shortage of plumbers, their wages will rise and people will rush to pick up that plumbers wrench.

What happened in the IT industry pre-Y2K is a perfect example of hordes of people (many of them completely unqualified) rushing into a profession that appeared to have a (relatively) low bar of entry with (relatively) high returns.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

The UK is full of immigrants, but apparently they aren't picking up the plumbers wrench.

The Polish immigrants certainly are

Well then, as long as we have all the immigrants to do our 'less than desireable' jobs, we should be ok then.

Are you kidding? Plumbers make a mint, at least in the UK. Nothing "less than desirable" than earning 70 quid an hour. Of course there's a whole argument that the "polish plumber" is depressing these wages in the UK, and elswhere in the EU. THe debate about how true that might be rages. Of course, the Poles are legal immigrants.

Robin, the question I was trying to raise is whether in the future there will be enough of these individuals.

Well, they are in short supply now hence the fees they can demand. Maybe people who were planning to work as a shoes salesmen need to learn a trade - plumbing.

[panamania79 2]

Maybe we in the northeast need to encourage our indigent to relo out to the midwest.....where there is ample affordable housing ... i bet y'all would love that

Why not ? I keep trying to tell you that RI sucks !

[Imua 0]

That is why we moved from Hawaii.

Ditto - the thing is wages in Hawaii are so low and yet rents are so high. In NYC the comparatively higher salaries somewhat make up for the high rents. When I moved here to NYC my salary went up by $6K for a similar job and my rent (for a bedroom in a shared apt.) was the same as I was paying in HNL. This is why you see so many people working two and three jobs just to make ends meet, something I haven't really seen as much as I thought I would in NYC in my underpaid profession. You also have lots of people doubling and tripling up. Also you see a lot of extended families living under one roof, which I think is a good thing. I didn't see any of the horror stories in Hawaii like you see here of immigrant couples paying $700/month to sleep on a mattress in a basement with 7 other people - some of the living situations in NYC are straight out of the Third World because housing costs are so high.

In my dreams the minimum wage would be pegged to the cost of housing, though it would be economically impossible.