Elina Bravve, Research Assistant
Megan DeCrappeo, Research Analyst
Danilo Pelletiere, Research Director, Chief Economist
Sheila Crowley, President

Please note that all data related to the Area Median Income (AMI) have been updated as of June 2011 to reflect HUD's May 31st release of the Fiscal Year 2011 Income Limits.

Today more than 38 million households rent their homes, 1.9 million more than in 2007. The current rate of homeownership (66.5%) is now at the lowest level since 1998. And with the foreclosure crisis and recession on the one hand and the aging of the baby boom and the coming of age of the echo boom on the other, the demand for rental housing is only projected to grow. Out of Reach is a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Area (MSAs/HMFAs), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit in a range of sizes (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom home is derived. This figure is the Housing Wage.