Map: Here’s the salary you need to rent in every SF neighborhood

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Map: Here’s the salary you need to rent in every SF neighborhood

Share All sharing options for: Map: Here’s the salary you need to rent in every SF neighborhood

Most San Franciscans don’t really need to be told that it costs a lot to rent in the city these days, but the news keeps coming whether we’re ready or not.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition [NLIHC], a Washington D.C.-based think tank, released its annual “Out Of Reach”report last week, chronicling how many hours the average American must work in order to rent a home at a fair market price in all 50 states.

According to NLIHC:

“The report’s Housing Wage is the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest rental home without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs. It is based on HUD’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), which is an estimate of what a family moving today can expect to pay for a modest rental home in the area.”

In 2017, the report estimated that it would take 215 working hours per week at San Francisco minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom SF apartment. Since that’s chronologically impossible for one person, a two-person household would instead end up working 107.5 hours per week apiece, which is only psychologically impossible.

The outlook has not improved in the latest slate of findings, which breaks down individual ZIP codes within San Francisco (as well as other U.S. cities) and recommends an hourly wage needed in order to rent a one- or two-bedroom home without risky financial burden.

Note that these figures represents an estimated market rent for a new renter seeking an apartment today, and are significantly higher than the citywide median rent paid by those already renting. Nevertheless, here’s a breakdown of our citywide breakdown.