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Out of Reach documents the significant gap between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing across the United States. The report’s central statistic, the Housing Wage, is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a rental home at HUD’s fair market rent (FMR) without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs, the accepted standard for affordability. HUD’s FMRs are estimates of what a family moving today can expect to pay for a modestly priced rental home in a given area. Over the past 30 years, the report has demonstrated that the cost of a modest rental home is out of reach for low-wage workers and other extremely low-income renters.

THE 2019 TEXAS HOUSING WAGE IS $20.29 FOR A MODEST TWO-BEDROOM RENTAL HOME.

A worker earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in Texas must work nearly 112 hours per week (more than 2 full-time jobs) to afford a two-bedroom rental home.