By Esther Colon-Bermudez, NLIHC Research Analyst
NLIHC released Out of Reach 2026: The High Cost of Housing on July 23. Published annually, Out of Reach highlights the mismatch between the wages people earn and the price of decent rental housing in every state, metropolitan area, and county in the U.S. This year’s Out of Reach report highlights that, amid ongoing economic uncertainty and federal cuts to assistance, the lowest-income renters continue to struggle to afford housing.
The report’s central statistic, the Housing Wage, is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest rental home at HUD’s FMR without spending more than 30% of their income on rent. Nationally, a full-time worker must earn a Housing Wage of $34.73 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental home at FMR and a Housing Wage of $29.19 to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home. For this year, the average hourly wage earned by renters is $24.84, which is $9.89 less than the national two-bedroom Housing Wage, and $4.35 less than the one-bedroom Housing Wage. In 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, renters earning the average renter wage must work more than 40 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom rental home.
The rental affordability crisis affects millions of low-wage workers. More than half of all wage earners cannot afford a modest one-bedroom while working full-time, and at least 60% cannot afford a modest one-bedroom rental home. The median hourly wage for 18 of the 25 most common occupations in the country is lower than the two-bedroom Housing Wage. Workers in these 18 occupations make up 48% of the total U.S. workforce and include occupations like service industry workers, home health aides, and nursing assistants.
The report also highlights significant racial, ethnic, and gender disparities. Nationally, the median wage of a full-time white worker is enough to afford a one-bedroom apartment at FMR, but it falls short for Black and Latino workers by $6.97 and $6.90, respectively. Women earn less than their male counterparts, especially Black and Latina women. Black women earning the median wage for their race and gender make $21.94 per hour, which is $1.70 less than Black men and $10.17 less than white men. Latina women earn $3.12 less than Latino men and $11.40 less than white men.
The significant gap between what renters earn and housing costs demands greater federal investment in affordable housing. Yet federal rental assistance has long been chronically underfunded, forced to compete with other discretionary programs in the appropriations process. Out of Reach 2026 highlights a longstanding trend of federal spending priorities that favor military spending over basic needs. Annual budget authority for the Department of Defense (DoD) has ranged from 2.8% to 6.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) since 1980, compared to housing assistance, which has ranged between just 0.2% and 1.2%. The President's budget for FY2027 would deepen this imbalance further, calling for an overall 10% cut to non-defense discretionary spending while increasing military spending by approximately 23%.
NLIHC interviewed renters and other housing stakeholders to better understand the everyday realities of the housing crisis. Their messages were clear: a job no longer guarantees housing stability, renters are making impossible choices between paying for rent and other essentials, housing providers are overwhelmed and struggling to meet demand, and the current administration’s actions have only made things worse. To address the challenges identified in Out of Reach 2026, Congress must make substantial, long-term investments to expand rental assistance, subsidize the production and preservation of affordable housing, reduce regulatory barriers, and ensure disaster recovery efforts reach the lowest-income renters.
The Out of Reach 2026 interactive website includes data for each state, county, and metropolitan area, and an easy-to-use search function for identifying data by metropolitan area ZIP code. Visit the website at https://nlihc.org/oor.