Audio By Carbonatix
Florida’s minimum wage is $7.93 an hour, but you’d need to make almost $10 more an hour if you want to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Miami-Dade. A Washington Post analysis shows that based on average rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Miami-Dade, you’d have to make at least $17.50 an hour in a full-time job in order to make rent.
See also: Miami Rents Are Wildly Unaffordable for Average Residents
In other words, you’d have to make at least $36,400 a year. The median family income in Miami-Dade is just under that, at $35,966. The median male makes $30,120, while women make $24,686 a year.
In other words, the average family, let alone the average single person, couldn’t afford to rent a decent one-bedroom apartment at market rate in Miami.
When news happens, Miami New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If Miami New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
The figures come from what the Department of Housing and Urban Development considers a “fair market rent” — which means the amount someone would need to pay for rent and utilities on a “decent” apartment in a county. The amount someone would need to earn an hour to afford that apartment is considered a “housing wage.”
Of America’s 3,144 counties, Miami-Dade has the 135th highest housing wage. But the story in Miami isn’t quite as bad as in Broward, where someone would have to make $19.08 an hour, or just under $40,000 each year, to afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
