A minimum wage employee in Nevada needs to work 96 hours a week to afford a median-priced apartment on their own, according to a new report.
This is a one-hour decrease in hours needed from January 2024 as the median priced apartment in the state sits at $1,500 a month for rent, a 1 percent drop from the average rent from last year, according to the Redfin report. This is below the national average, which sits at 106 hours a week needed.
Nevada’s minimum wage currently sits at $12 an hour, 41 cents above the national average of $11.59.
Workers in the state saw an increase in their minimum wage last summer as Assembly Bill 456, which passed in 2019, mandated that the state’s minimum wage rise in 75-cent increments until July 2024. The final increase of the bill brought Nevada’s minimum wage to $12 per hour starting July 1, according to the Labor Commissioner’s Office.
A two-tiered system offered a lower wage to employees with qualifying health benefits was previously in place, but around 55 percent of voters in November 2022 approved a constitutional amendment setting a $12 minimum wage for all employees in the state regardless of offered employer health benefits.
In the report, Redfin uses the common economic methodology that someone should not spend 30 percent or more of their personal income on housing, however most minimum wage workers in most states have to work more than 40 hours a week to afford the average rent.
“It’s obviously not realistic for most people to clock into their job for over 100 hours a week, but this thought experiment shines light on the massive rental affordability gap between the average American and our country’s lowest earners,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “It’s virtually impossible for a minimum-wage worker to afford the typical apartment on their own, which is why many have to find ways to reduce their housing expenses, like living with roommates or family members, applying for a spot in public housing, or using Housing Choice Vouchers.”
Las Vegas finds itself in the middle of a housing crisis as prices for homes recently broke record highs to start the year. A multitude of factors are playing into this, including a lack of land to develop as the federal government controls most of the land in the valley, a slowdown in homebuilding and elevated mortgage rates locking many homeowners into their houses due to mortgage rates they got during the pandemic.
Fifteen states have a minimum wage of $7.25, tying them all for the lowest wages in the country, and of note, the federal minimum wage requirement has not increased since 2009.
Washington, D.C. has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17.50, however a minimum wage worker there would still have to work 102 hours a week to afford the median priced apartment.
New Hampshire has the worst metrics as a minimum wage worker in that state would have to work 224 hours a week to afford the median priced apartment, while South Dakota minimum wage workers only have to work 75 hours a week to afford the median priced apartment in their state.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
