New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. are often spotlighted for their astronomical housing prices. But a new report finds that it's not just the coasts that are facing an affordability crisis: A full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour cannot rent an affordable two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country, where affordable is defined as comprising up to 30% of a renter's budget. That's according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 30th annual Out of Reach report, which finds that a nationwide affordable housing shortage, wage stagnation and racial inequities have left a growing number of people unable to find a place to live that's reasonably within their budget. NLIHC's report calculates a "housing wage" that estimates how much a full-time worker must make in order to afford a fair market rental without spending more than 30% of his or her income. For 2019, the housing wage is $22.96 for a two-bedroom rental, and $18.65 for a one-bedroom.

Click to enlarge The means someone earning the federal minimum wage would have to work more than three full-time jobs — 127 hours per week — to afford a two-bedroom rental, and 103 hours for a one-bedroom. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called the housing situation a "national disgrace." tweet

A minimum wage increase alone won't fix the crisis