To comfortably afford a one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix — that is, to spend no more than the recommended 30% of your income on housing — you need to be making $32.29 an hour. For someone working 40 hours a week, a one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix requires a yearly salary of $67,163.20. That’s slightly more than the income of the average Phoenix resident, which is $64,056 a year, according to ZipRecruiter.
Clever Real Estate examined the cost of rent in cities across the United States. A fair-market one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix costs $1,679 a month. Among the country’s 15 most populous cities, Phoenix has the sixth-highest necessary income to afford that kind of rent. Phoenix ranks just behind Los Angeles, California, where residents must make $40.02 an hour to afford a fair market-rate one-bedroom dwelling.
San Jose, California, is the most expensive city on Clever Real Estate’s list, requiring a whopping $57.21 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment.
Notably, the minimum wage in Arizona is just $14.35 an hour, though it is set to rise a bit next year. Minimum wage workers in Arizona make around $29,848 a year, which is significantly less than the required annual income of $51,356 a year to live in Phoenix, according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. Per Clever Real Estate, to afford the average one-bedroom apartment in Phoenix, minimum-wage workers would need to spend 68% of their income on rent.
Things used to be even worse. In 2016, voters approved Proposition 206, which raised the minimum wage from $8.05 an hour to $10. It also mandated regular increases, to $12 by 2020 and then adjusted for inflation based on U.S. Census data. In January, the state minimum wage will increase slightly to $14.70. According to MIT, a living wage in Phoenix — not necessarily a comfortable one — would be $24.69 an hour.
When it comes to living comfortably, here’s how Phoenix compares with other major cities.
1. San Jose, California
- Fair market rent: $2,975
- Hourly minimum wage: $17.55
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 98%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $57.21
- Fair market rent: $2,330
- Hourly minimum wage: $16
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 84%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $44.81
- Fair market rent: $2,328
- Hourly minimum wage: $16.85
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 80%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $44.77
- Fair market rent: $2,293
- Hourly minimum wage: $19.97
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 66%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $44.10
- Fair market rent: $2,081
- Hourly minimum wage: $17.27
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 70%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $40.02
- Fair market rent: $1,679
- Hourly minimum wage: $14.35
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 68%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $32.29
- Fair market rent: $1,650
- Hourly minimum wage: $7.25
- Percent of minimum wage income to rent one bedroom: 131%
- Hourly wage needed to spend 30% on rent: $31.73
