In NC, the gap between wages and housing costs is growing. Here’s by how much.

Someone earning North Carolina’s current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would have to work 139 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at the current fair market rate of $1,311, a new study says.

That’s equal to three and a half jobs in 2024.

It’s also the stark reality facing some of the state’s 1.4 million renters, according to Out Of Reach , a new report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

To afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $4,370 monthly or $52,437 annually in North Carolina, the report said. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, that equates to $25.21 per hour.

That’s more than triple the minimum wage and well above the $20.61 hourly wage of the state’s average worker.

The gap is even greater compared to the average hourly wage for nursing assistants ($17.11), restaurant cooks ($16.76) and retail salespersons ($14.73), making the Old North State the 28th most expensive in the United States for renters, the report said.

“This metric underscores the disconnect between wages and the cost of housing,” said Kevin Campbell, executive director of Raleigh Area Land Trust , which serves low- to moderate-income adults and families (60-80% of the area median income) living in Raleigh and Wake County.

That growing gulf, he added, has been exacerbated post-COVID. “Housing is becoming increasingly unattainable for many individuals working essential jobs within our community,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-Cary) said North Carolina is “in the middle of a housing crisis.”

Citing the report, he noted that there are only 66 affordable and available rental units per 100 households at or below the 50% area median income (AMI) threshold in North Carolina.

“Statewide, that means that there are 185,186 fewer affordable homes available than are needed to affordably house working families,’ said Nickel, who introduced the Keep Housing Affordable Act earlier this week. It provides incentives to developers for maintain affordable housing for extended periods.

“It’s a crucial solution,” he said in the release.

Nationally, no state, metropolitan area or county offers a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage, or the prevailing state or local minimum wage, the chance to afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent, the report said.

In 2024, a full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $32.11 on average to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental home in the U.S. and $26.74 to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home.

A closer look at NC

Some parts of North Carolina are worse than others.

The worst, the report said, is Asheville, where the fair market rate for a two-bedroom rental home is $1,680. A minimum wage worker would have to work 4.5 full-time jobs to afford that.

The next most expensive is Raleigh. The fair market rate for a two-bedroom rental home is $1,646. A minimum wage worker would have to work 4.4 full-time jobs to pay that rent.

Durham-Chapel Hill comes in third. The fair market rate for a two-bedroom rental home is $1,631. A minimum wage worker would have to work 4.3 full-time jobs to afford that home.

The report’s central statistic, the “housing wage,” estimates the hourly wage full-time workers must earn to afford a modest rental home at HUD’s fair market rent (FMR) without spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs — the accepted standard of affordability. Here are those hourly housing wages:

• Zero bedroom (studio): $20.87
• One-bedroom: $21.75
• Two-bedroom: $25.21
• Three-bedroom: $32.33
• Four-bedroom: $40.05

That translates into the following annual incomes:

• Zero-bedroom: $43,401
• One-bedroom: $45,235
• Two-bedroom: $52,437
• Three-bedroom: $67,237
• Four-bedroom: $83,299.