Nearly half of Americans do not earn enough to afford to rent a one bedroom apartment.

[Uncle Joe]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[iemanja]

1. As unequal as the US economy is

I don't think Bernie's statement is true. The median income in the US is $68,703. Half are above that number and half are below.

[Uncle Joe]

2. "Nearly half of American workers don't earn enough to afford a one-bedroom rental"

Nearly half of American workers do not earn enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment, according to new data.

Rents in the US continued to increase through the pandemic, and a worker now needs to earn about $20.40 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental. The median wage in the US is about $21 an hour.

The data, from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, shows that millions of Americans – from Amazon warehouse workers to cab drivers to public school teachers – are struggling to pay rent. For the poorest Americans, market-rate housing is out of reach in virtually all of the country.

About 14% of Americans fell behind on rent payments during the pandemic – roughly double the figure before the pandemic. A federal moratorium on evictions has kept renters from being kicked out of their homes, but the moratorium lapsed last month, only to be extended into early October for those in regions hardest hit by the pandemic.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/12/housing-renter-affordable-data-map

[iemanja]

12. Thanks for the info

Shocking.

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. U may want to check your number.

[iemanja]

8. I checked it before I wrote my post

It was a 2021 number that google compiled from the US census and two other sources. Here is what the US census says for 2020:
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html

[Slammer]

33. not lies nor damned lies but rather statistics

Your number is a median of combined household incomes rather than a median of individuals.

Babies and children earn zero income (even government tax rebates are tallied to the adults in the house rather than directly to the children's income).

Teens most often don't earn enough to pay rent.

People who are retired or disabled can earn zero or some fraction of their previous income, depending on whether they paid into Social Security or have private retirement plans. Additionally, many of them have medical expenses necessary to keep them alive which would prevent them from paying rent as well (I personally fall into that category.)

People who are in college most often don't earn enough to pay rent. They live at home, find roommates, and/or take out government loans to cover their expenses.

Housewives aren't counted in official stats as "earning an income" even if their work allows someone else to leave the house and earn a handsome income. President Trump's wife falls into that category as do the spouses of many multimillionaires.

Illegal aliens often don't earn enough to live and pay rent. They're either working off the debt for their passage to whichever criminal organization got them here and are living in communal housing of some sort (have experience from my years of working on how they make that work), have roommates, or their employer provides them with some sort of minimal group housing.

Then there's people who work for somewhere close to minimum wage who just don't have enough to pay median rent.

And median rent itself a deceptive number. Rents in New York, Boston, and San Francisco which are absurdly high are averaged in with the rents from other places which are more reasonable or very low.

But no one at all pays a hypothetical median national rent.

So Bernie can post up something which is both absolutely true but which doesn't contain information which is useful apart from being propaganda to promote our agenda.

[iemanja]

36. and rents are higher than I realized

According to this post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16037919

[Withywindle]

40. And single people have only their own income, not that of a spouse or partner.

You can't compare a "household" with two incomes combined against that of only one.

Where I live (Chicago), it's very common for single people to have roommates well into their 30s, 40s, 50s and up (I have two!). But you can't really do that with a one-bedroom if that person isn't your spouse or partner. You need at least a 2BR.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

41. Exactly!

Soon I will be moving back to Chicago and simply cannot afford the rents. I am single, in my 50s, and as you know, landlords demand you earn 3 to 3.5x the monthly rent. I've been looking online. Just renting a bedroom in a shared apartment is going for $850 and up depending on the location. That's around Jefferson Park and that general area. I'm going to be in trouble.

[iemanja]

35. and rents are higher than I realized

According to this post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16037919

[NoMoreRepugs]

45. Household vs worker income - big difference. So many are 2 vs 1.

[George II]

51. Median 1-bedroom apartment rent is about $1200, which calculates to 20% annual salary....

Just about where it's been for decades.

Unfortunately the average person takes these numbers as fact.

Many of those percentages in those other tweets aren't truly accurate, either.

[Hoyt]

3. Get the point, but Sanders needs to proof his Tweets.

Musk is not $293 Billion richer since pandemic started, as Sanders says. That’s his total wealth.

Fortunately, Musk will be paying some big bucks in taxes during next 12 months. Could be more if we raise tax rate.

[Uncle Joe]

10. You are correct Hoyt,

Musk only made 6.7 billion in compensation for 2020.

[tblue37]

15. Hand to mouth. Poor guy.

[Hoyt]

24. Agree with that too. Don't feel sorry for him. We just don't need

more misinformation, no matter how well intentioned.

[George II]

52. Last week he tweeted about a $21 vial of insulin years ago, saying the "same" vial now is $320....

But in fact the same vial is now $26, up only $5 over several years ago. It's actually an entirely different formulation/grade/dose of insulin that costs $320.

[Hoyt]

53. Good point. I can overlook some well intentioned misinformation. But try harder.

[cannabis_flower]

5. Fortunately

I have been living in the same place for 10 years. Rent doesn’t usually go up as fast when you stay in one place it doesn’t go up as fast. I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath for less than what a lot of people pay for a one bedroom. I pay $950 here in Houston but I probably couldn’t afford it by myself.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

6. Also

In these parts of Illinois, you must earn 3 to 3.5x your monthly rent in wages per month. It's difficult for many people to even qualify to rent.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. And people wonder why we don't feel like we're in an economic recovery

[JoeOtterbein]

9. K n R ! Thanks for posting! nt

[Jose Garcia]

11. Yet somehow, only 0.2% of the population is homeless

[meadowlander]

14. So people live in overcrowded conditions,

or forgo other necessities (medicine, food, retirement savings) so that they can pay rent.

You don't have to be homeless to experience housing insecurity.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Millions of Americans are living with other people, family, room mates etc.

Also I believe the homeless population is greatly undercounted.

[George II]

13. From what surveys does he get all of these statistics that he tweets frequently?

[RussBLib]

16. what IS the cost of a 1-bdrm apt ?

doesn't that depend on where you live? Or, what is the national average?

I wonder about DU'ers ... maybe do a poll.

[Torchlight]

18. National average for a 1 bedroom apt is $1621

I cited rent.com which also provides 2021 averages per state, averages per pop. density, etc.

[George II]

21. That's the average rent in the United States. Many one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan can go....

....as high as $4000-5000. I would guess that very few if any are as low as $1600.

There are thousands of one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan, that's going to skew the "average" quite a bit.

[ancianita]

30. Here's a 2021 map, along with a comparison of rent vs own costs. Not definitive, but recent.

The average rent in Hyde Park, Chicago is $2,000 (University of Chicago neighborhood);
citywide it's $1600.00 per month; so the city area prices differ from the IL state average.




https://vividmaps.com/how-much-cheaper-it-is-to-rent-than-buy-a-home-in-every-u-s-state/

[Kaleva]

31. In MI, half of the apartments go for less then $888 a month.

[ancianita]

32. Statistically, sure. Half would be above and half below.

[Kaleva]

48. for every 2k a month apt, there could be many $500 apts.

[JanMichael]

54. Are you trying to say that you don't believe housing costs are too high?

Or that there are plenty of affordable units everywhere? Or that people are lying about housing issues?

[Kaleva]

56. No, I'm just stating mathematical facts.

If the median rent is $888 a month, then half of the apartments are less then that. Some could be much higher then $888 a month and some could be much lower then $888 a month.

Basic math.

[Beastly Boy]

19. False.

Median monthly rent in the US: $1098, or $13,176 annually (https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/average-rent-by-state)

Median annual income in the US: $$67,521 (https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html)

Breakdown on household spending here: https://www.thebalance.com/breakdown-of-average-monthly-household-expenses-4687519

Average household personal taxes come to $10,481 (https://www.fool.com/taxes/2018/04/22/how-much-does-the-average-american-pay-in-taxes.aspx)

Half of American households would pay about 23% of their post-tax income in rent, well within the recommended 30% total income.

Brenie may have a point here, but he is not doing himself any favors when he fails to make it.

[Uncle Joe]

20. "Nearly half of American workers don't earn enough to afford a one-bedroom rental"

Nearly half of American workers do not earn enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment, according to new data.

Rents in the US continued to increase through the pandemic, and a worker now needs to earn about $20.40 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental. The median wage in the US is about $21 an hour.

The data, from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, shows that millions of Americans – from Amazon warehouse workers to cab drivers to public school teachers – are struggling to pay rent. For the poorest Americans, market-rate housing is out of reach in virtually all of the country.

About 14% of Americans fell behind on rent payments during the pandemic – roughly double the figure before the pandemic. A federal moratorium on evictions has kept renters from being kicked out of their homes, but the moratorium lapsed last month, only to be extended into early October for those in regions hardest hit by the pandemic.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/12/housing-renter-affordable-data-map

It looks to me like U.S. non-household debt has nearly doubled from 2.2 trillion in 2004 to 4.25 trillion in 2021, I believe that's a large part of the reason as to why nearly half of the American People can't afford a 1 bedroom rental.

There is a helpful graph on the link below.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc

[George II]

22. The flaw in making these sweeping national, coast to coast "averages" is that rents and income....

....vary greatly depending upon the particular area.


The average rent in Oklahoma City is $874 for an 804 square foot apartment.
The average rent in Manhattan is 4072 for a 702 square foot apartment.

Manhattan rent is more than FIVE times that in Oklahoma City.

All of those apartments, in both cities and thousands of others are among those used to stride an "average". One simply can't speak so generally about rents, income, and many other factors.

More, the cost of living index in Paducah, Kentucky is 71.6 compared to a national index of 100. The cost of living index is 258.3 in Manhattan.

Coming up with "averages" as we've seen here proves nothing.

[Uncle Joe]

25. Here is the next paragraph in the article

(snip)

And it’s not just big cities skewing the data. A two-bedroom rental – a reasonable size for a family – would stretch the budgets of renters in most US counties:

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/12/housing-renter-affordable-data-map

[George II]

26. That article has flaws in it too, and makes sweeping assumptions too. It's simply illogical to....

....draw conclusions across the United States, which has 330 million people and 157 million workers.

What blows holes in that article's conclusions is that

For example, in Sunflower county, Mississippi, the minimum is $7.25, which means a worker would need to spend about 54% of their income on a two-bedroom rental – about $684 a month

There is no minimum wage in Mississippi!!

[Uncle Joe]

28. The minimum is 7.25 because that's the federal minimum wage.

If a state doesn't have a minimum wage then the federal minimum applies.

[George II]

34. But earlier in the article they say there are very few earning the Federal minimum wage:

It’s worth noting that relatively few Americans – about 250,000 – earn the federal minimum wage

It's a sloppy article and the claims being made here are inaccurate.

[Uncle Joe]

43. That's correct, most Americans are earning more than 7.25 an hour but that doesn't take away

from the central argument that nearly half can't qualify for a one bedroom rental.

So there is nothing inaccurate about that in the article, they even knew the minimum in Mississippi.

I already showed you a link to a separate article as to how U.S. Non-household debt has nearly doubled as well from 2004 to 2021 but here it is again, perhaps you believe this is just a coincidence?

Just slide the little bar on the graph.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc

[George II]

55. As shown elsewhere in this thread, the "nearly half" claim isn't even close to being correct...

And "Non-household" debt includes all aspects of the economy, including billions in business debt, which is only owed on paper.

[Kaleva]

27. Again, a few high priced apts would skew the average.

Here is a link to a section 8 apartment not far from where I live. A 2 bdr apt goes for a $1 a month and there are units available.

https://www.realrentals.com/houses_for_rent/?city=Ontonagon&state=Michigan+MI

[George II]

38. That and calculating averages over such a huge variation in rent prices and across thousands....

....of miles in rural, urban, and farm areas it's impossible to draw any sweeping conclusions that are being presented in tweets in the OP.

[Kaleva]

49. whenever this discussion about apts being unaffordable comes up, I take issue with the sources

[Beastly Boy]

42. Despite attention-grabbing headers, neither source provides the data to

make a compelling case for nearly half of American workers being unable to afford a one-bedroom apartment.

This is not to say that 25% may be unable to do so, which is bad enough. But it would be more responsible of Bernie to choose accuracy over catchy talking points.

[Uncle Joe]

44. They did provide data, perhaps you didn't click on the pdf,

https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/2021/Out-of-Reach_2021.pdf it was under the word "data" in the article

I'm of the mind if one believes the house is on fire, don't whisper about it.

On top of that data, the link below reflects how non-household debt coincidently also nearly doubled from 2004-2021, wages of course never came close to doubling, that to me seems like an elephant in the room in regards to the economic situation of nearly half the Americans workers not being able to afford a 1 bedroom rental.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc

[Beastly Boy]

47. You are probably referring to Figure 3 at the first link you provided.

Yes, I looked at the PDF. The problem with squaring its content with Bernie's claim is that the data given in it is for a subset of Americans who are renters. By definition, this subset can afford their rent one way or another, otherwise they wouldn't be renters. The point being made in this document is that they are falling behind, not that they have been priced out of the rental market. This alone makes it impossible to square the data with Bernie's claim, since Bernie is talking about a much bigger sample (all Americans) and a much smaller subset of rental units (one-bedroom apartments). Two completely different data sets, and Bernie's set is not included in, is impossible to derive from the data examined by the NLIHC analysis, and thus remains purely hypothetical.

The second link does not tie with Bernie's statement at all, and thus neither confirms nor denies its accuracy.

[Initech]

23. I don't! Any decent apartment runs over $2K where I live.

It fucking sucks.

[JT45242]

29. Affordable housing is a huge problem...

Not sure where he came up with those statistics, but I can tell you that it is a major problem. In the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids corridor finding affordable housing can be a nightmare -- clearly not a major metroplitan area.

Seattle, San Fran, NYC, Houston, all dominate the talks because of the high population densities but the problem is real.

In far too many places, developers are allowed to build only high end homes and apartments. Where their once were apartments that poor folks could afford, cities allow gentrification and they no longer can live their. In Cincinnati, there were lots of areas that became gentrified and priced people right out of the neighborhood.

Zoning boards need to require builders to build a mix of housing at different price points. Employers need to pay a living wage.

There are many levers that move thi sproblem and using misleading statistics does not help the cause. Bernie's heart is in the right place but if you use faulty statistics then people will discount all that you say.

[Uncle Joe]

39. I don't know for certain but I googled and came up with this article

Nearly half of American workers do not earn enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment, according to new data.

Rents in the US continued to increase through the pandemic, and a worker now needs to earn about $20.40 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental. The median wage in the US is about $21 an hour.

The data, from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, shows that millions of Americans – from Amazon warehouse workers to cab drivers to public school teachers – are struggling to pay rent. For the poorest Americans, market-rate housing is out of reach in virtually all of the country.

About 14% of Americans fell behind on rent payments during the pandemic – roughly double the figure before the pandemic. A federal moratorium on evictions has kept renters from being kicked out of their homes, but the moratorium lapsed last month, only to be extended into early October for those in regions hardest hit by the pandemic.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/12/housing-renter-affordable-data-map

To me this isn't surprising, aside from that article, check out the link below for U.S. non-house debt increase from 2004-2021 (it has one of those nice graphs that you can slide the bar around) it nearly doubled as well, going from 2.2 trillion to 4.25 trillion, I'm pretty certain wages did not keep pace.

Mortgage balances shown on consumer credit reports increased by $230 billion in the third quarter of 2021 and stood at $10.67 trillion at the end of September. Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) saw a $5 billion decline, continuing a declining trend in place since 2016Q4, bringing the outstanding balance to $317 billion. Credit card balances increased slightly in the third quarter, by $17 billion, after an increase of the same size in the second quarter. Still, credit card balances remain $123 billion lower than they had been at the end of 2019. Auto loan balances increased by $28 billion in the third quarter. Student loan balances grew by $14 billion, coinciding with the start of an academic year.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc

On the zoning issues and NIMBY, I agree they do pose challenges but that doesn't void Bernie's statistics.

[BobTheSubgenius]

37. I, for one, would much rather see Elon, Jeff or one of the others in that realm...

...reach a trillion dollar personal net worth. Wouldn't you?

[fescuerescue]

46. Most people don't need their own place

Most people live with others.

Even if everyone just paired up, then by extension EVERY pair could afford an apartment.

In fact, since the average household size is 2.53 people, we are doing pretty damn good if we just go by statistics.

Now those statistics don't tell the whole story. But they do a better job than Bernie number.

[BannonsLiver]

50. Where is said apartment?

That detail is important.