Rent is likely out of reach for some Pennsylvania workers. How pricey is central PA?

Is working 40 hours a week enough to rent comfortably in central Pennsylvania? A new report claims that could be a challenge even for those making well above minimum wage.

A new report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition , titled “Out Of Reach,” examined discrepancies between wages and the incomes needed to rent housing across the U.S. In many states today, including Pennsylvania, a renter making minimum wage would need to work more than 80 hours per week to afford merely a rental at fair market rent, or what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers a reasonable estimate for “a modestly priced rental home of decent quality.”

In a statement, the NLIHC report’s authors said long-term investments in affordable housing solutions are required to help support low-income workers and their families moving forward.

“Although most indicators show that the economy is strong, the lowest-income renters continue to confront significant challenges finding and maintaining access to safe and affordable rental housing,” the report reads. “Insufficient wages, rising rents and an inadequate housing safety net all contribute to the problem.”

Here’s what you need to know about the report’s findings for Centre County, plus a look at Pennsylvania’s statewide affordability.

How affordable are rental options in Centre County?

Centre County ranks among the more expensive rental markets in Pennsylvania, according to the NLIHC’s report.

A renter household in Centre County needs to earn $25.33 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental at fair market rent, which the Out Of Reach report defines as “typically the 40th percentile of gross rents” for standard rental units of recent movers. Affording rent at that price ($1,317 per month) would require pay equivalent to 3.5 full-time jobs worked at Pennsylvania’s minimum wage ($7.25), assuming a renter household spends no more than 30% of its total income to pay rent.

As of 2024, Centre County’s estimated average hourly wage sits at $13.52. A renter household would need to work about 1.9 full-time jobs at that average wage to afford a two-bedroom rental at fair market rent.

Centre County held about 21,825 renter households between 2018 and 2021, representing roughly 37% of all households, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. No other county besides Philadelphia County (48%) had a higher proportion of rental units comprising its total number of households.

What about the rest of Pennsylvania?

Using Pennsylvania’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the commonwealth’s roughly 1.6 million renter households would need to work about 145 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home for $1,365, or Pennsylvania’s fair market rent, the report claims. Such a rate equates to about 3.6 full-time jobs earning minimum wage.

Fair market rent for a one-bedroom rental in Pennsylvania is $1,122 per month, according to the report. A worker making minimum wage would need to work about 119 hours per week to afford one of those units.

Full-time workers in Pennsylvania need to earn at least $26.26 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent, assuming they spend no more than 30% of their income paying rent each month. However, the average worker in Pennsylvania earns $20.11 per hour, according to the report.

Through its research, the NLIHC report claims Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties each require renter households to earn $33.40 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental at fair market rent — the most expensive rate of all 67 Pennsylvania counties measured for 2024.

Pennsylvania’s hourly household wage requirement to afford a two-bedroom rental ranks 27th in the country between Maine ($26.38 per hour) and North Carolina ($25.21 per hour). California has the most expensive two-bedroom rental wage ($47.38 per hour), while North Dakota is the cheapest of the 50 U.S. states ($18.38 per hour).

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has not increased since it rose from $5.15 per hour in 2009, leaving the Keystone State with one of the lowest hourly minimum wages in the U.S. Neighboring states like New Jersey, New York and Maryland all offer hourly minimum wages of at least $15 , according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Visit nlihc.org/oor/state/pa to read the data behind 2024’s Out Of Reach report and find statistics for Pennsylvania.