Out of Reach 2026: Average Renter Wages Fall Nearly $10 an Hour Short of a Two-Bedroom

The National Low Income Housing Coalition released its annual Out of Reach report this week, and the numbers make the case for our industry as plainly as any policy brief could. The average renter in the U.S. now earns $24.84 an hour, nearly $10 short of the $34.73 needed to afford a modest two-bedroom home at HUD's Fair Market Rent without exceeding 30% of income on housing. Even a one-bedroom requires $29.19 an hour, a gap most full-time workers in the country's most common occupations cannot close.

The report found that 17 of the 25 most common U.S. jobs pay below the one-bedroom Housing Wage, and 18 fall short of the two-bedroom threshold. In 49 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, a renter earning the average wage would need to work more than 40 hours a week just to cover a two-bedroom apartment. The gap is worse for Black and American Indian/Alaska Native households, who make up a disproportionate share of extremely low-income renters nationally.

Only one in four eligible households currently receives federal rental assistance, which NLIHC attributes to chronic underfunding rather than a lack of need. That funding gap is exactly where private capital, LIHTC structuring, and public-private partnerships have to do the heavy lifting. Reports like this one are a reminder that the deals we underwrite are filling a hole that federal programs alone cannot close.

Sources

• National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach 2026