The federal standard is that no more than 30% of a household’s gross income should be spent on rent and utilities. But in all but 3 states, rental housing for workers making less than $15 per hour consumes more than 100% of a full-time salary.
A modest one-bedroom rental home is unaffordable to more than 40% of wage earners. A modest two-bedroom rental home is unaffordable for more than 60% of wage earners. In 2020, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the "National Housing Wage," the amount required to rent a modest house or apartment at the market rate, was $23.96 per hour. It concluded: "The average renter’s hourly wage of $18.22 [was] $5.74 less than the national two-bedroom Housing Wage and $1.34 less than the one-bedroom Housing Wage. As a result, the average renter must work 53 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment." And that is before earning funds for food, transportation, etc.
In all but 4 states a wage of at least $15 an hour for more than 40 hours a week is required to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment. In the four states where housing is relatively more affordable (Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia), rentals cost more than a $14 an hour wage worked for more than 40 hours.
Given these prices, as much as 38% of the labor force is unable to afford to rent a place to live. "Twelve of the 20 largest occupations in the United States pay a median hourly wage that is less than what a full-time worker needs to earn to afford a modest apartment at the national average fair market rent," according to NLIHC. Workers of color are more severely affected than white wage-earners.
Government funding for low-income housing is extremely limited and largely committed to existing projects and inadequate voucher programs with hopelessly long waiting lists.
The Affordable Housing comparison of OECD countries shows that only four countries have worse "housing cost overburden among low income tenants" than the United States, where 48% of low-income renters are paying more than they can afford for rent. A glance at the comparison's "Social Housing" tab shows that the U.S. spends far less on housing subsidies (as a percentage of GDP) than all but a very few countries.