North Carolina’s “housing wage” is up nearly $2 since 2024

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Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition

A full-time worker in North Carolina must earn a minimum of $27.14 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment, according to a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). A year ago, the state’s “housing wage” was $25.21 per hour.

The NLIHC releases an annual report — Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing — which shows what people must earn to afford rents. The “housing wage” is an estimate of what a full-time worker must earn to afford rent at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Market Rent (FMR) without spending more than 30% of their income.

Individuals and families that spend more than 30% of income on housing are considered cost burdened. Nearly half — 48% — of the state’s renters and 19% of homeowners are considered cost burdened, according to the N.C. Housing Coalition.

At $27.14 per hour, North Carolina has the 30th highest housing wage in the nation. A worker earning the $7.25 per hour minimum wage must work 150 per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. An annual income of $56,442 is needed to afford a two-bedroom home at the $1,232 per month FMR.

“This report is a critical reminder that we cannot reduce the affordable housing crisis down to individual choice or supply alone,” Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, director of housing policy for the N.C. Housing Coalition, said in a statement. “This report reminds us that wages are not keeping up with the cost of living and that more and more North Carolinians are experiencing the strain of cost-burden across our state.”

Meanwhile, the national 2025 “housing wage is $33.63 per hour for a two-bedroom rental home and $28.17 for a one-bedroom rental home. Last year, the national “housing wage” was $32.11 per hour for a two-bedroom rental. It was $26.74 for a one-bedroom rental.

“Housing is more than just shelter, it is foundational to well-being and dignity,” said NLIHC President and CEO Renee Willis. “This year’s Out of Reach report shows that, despite economic gains for some, low-income renters continue to face impossible choices between paying rent and meeting basic needs.”

Willis said the report findings reinforce the conclusion that cutting federal housing investments would only deepen the housing crisis.

“Congress must protect and expand housing programs that ensure stability, opportunity, and a pathway out of poverty for millions of renters,” Willis said.

California has the highest housing wage at $49.61 per hour. A worker there must clock 120 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the state minimum wage of $16.50 per hour. An annual income of $103,184 is needed to afford a two-bedroom home at the FMR of $2,580 per month.

The report’s authors noted that California is one of 30 states across the nation, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and 64 local governments that have minimum wages above the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage. Those wages range for $8.75 per hour in West Virginia to $17.50 per hour in the District of Columbia.

“Yet even in areas with higher minimum wages, the reality remains grim: nowhere in the United States—no state, metropolitan area, or county—can a full-time minimum-wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent,” the authors wrote in the report’s introduction.

They noted that the outlook for one-bedroom homes is only slightly better with just 7% of counties nationwide — 219 out of more than 3,000, excluding Puerto Rico — have a one-bedroom Fair Market Rent that is affordable for a full-time minimum-wage worker.