By Greg Sukiennik, Bennington Banner: Vermont households earning the state’s minimum wage of $11.25 an hour have to work 64 hours a week to spend 30 percent of their income on a one-bedroom apartment, and 81 hours a week for a two-bedroom unit, according to a housing study released Wednesday morning.
The study, “Out Of Reach: The High Cost of Housing,” published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, also reported Vermont has the nation’s sixth-largest gap between the average two-income renter wage and two-bedroom housing wage — a shortfall of $9.85 per hour.
The report said that Vermont has the 16th most expensive housing wage in the nation, and the eighth most expensive housing wage for rural areas.
According to the study, the average housing wage the money that a Vermont household would have to earn to spend 30 percent of its income on housing for the average fair market rent of $1,231 on a two-bedroom apartment is $23.68 per hour. That equates to $4,105 in monthly income, or $49,258 annually.
