INDIANAPOLIS – The housing affordability gap for Indiana’s minimum wage workers grew according to the latest “Out of Reach” report. It found that those Hoosiers would have to work 122 hours a week to afford a Fair Market Rate two-bedroom apartment.
“The new Out of Reach 2024 report finds that Indiana’s 2024 Housing Wage of $22.07 needed to afford a two-bedroom rental unit is an increase of $3.07 per hour above the 2023 wage. The average Hoosier renter’s wage in 2024 increased by only $0.06 over the past year,” said Aspen Clemons, executive director at Prosperity Indiana.
To afford that unit, a full-time Hoosier working only 40 hours a week would need a “Housing Wage” of $22.07 — far above the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 and above the average renter’s wage.
Indiana still falls below the national Housing Wage of $32.11 per hour for a two-bedroom apartment.
The Housing Wage is calculated by keeping the cost of a Fair Market Rate two-bedroom apartment and utilities at 30% of a household’s income — meaning that a Hoosier household needs to earn $3,826 monthly or $45,913 annually.
Prospects are slightly better for renters seeking a one-bedroom apartment, which would cost someone $949 monthly. That would require 101 hours of minimum wage work weekly.
The report says the average Hoosier wage falls short in 88 of 92 counties and 25 of the state’s 26 metro areas. Additionally, many of Indiana’s core job sectors don’t pay wages high enough to cover the Fair Market Rate for a two-bedroom apartment.
Read the entire Whitney Downard story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
