It’s Nearly Impossible To Rent An Apartment If You Make Minimum Wage

According to a recent report from HousingLink, in the first quarter of 2025, there were no affordable housing vacancies in Hennepin County for prospective tenants earning 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) of $87,000 for an individual and $124,200 for a four person family.

For those of you like me who immediately want to do the math, that’s an annual individual income of $26,100, or an hourly rate of $12.55. For this person to comfortably afford rent, it needs to be less than $652 per month.

Minimum wage in Minnesota is $11.13. In Minneapolis it’s $15.97.

For a three person family, that’s an annual income of $33,550, and an hourly rate of $16.13. For rent to be affordable for these families, it needs to be less than $838 per month. If that family has 5 members, they need an annual income of $40,250, an hourly rate of $19.35 and to be able pay less than $1006 per month in rent.

That number increased to 25% of vacancies being affordable for individuals and families earning 50% of the AMI, and 60% for those earning 60% of the AMI.

There were just 398 one bedroom vacancies, 367 two bedroom vacancies and 217 three bedroom vacancies in the county in the first quarter where housing providers were willing to accept Section 8 housing choice vouchers.

Median rents in the first quarter were $1199 for a one bedroom unit, $1557 for two bedrooms, and $1928 for three.

Given that most housing providers require prospective tenants to earn 2.5 times the rent in income, the monthly required income for a 1 bedroom is $998, $3893 for a two and $4820 for a three.

Needless to say, that math doesn’t work. Until we have more affordable units, it’s unlikely to get any better.