Here’s How Many Hours You’d Need To Work In Every State To Afford An Apartment On The Federal Minimum Wage

A new study conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition reveals that most Americans working the current Federal minimum wage would need to work way more than 40 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment. For instance, in Texas you’d need to work 73 hours to afford a market-rate apartment and in California you’d need to do a whopping 92 hours to get by.

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders recently campaigned in support of raising the Federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2020, even pressing President Obama to take swift executive action to raise the minimum now.

“In the richest country on the face of the earth,” Sanders said recently at a rally outside the Vermont Capitol building, “no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.”

There are currently 29 states where the minimum wage surpasses the Federal minimum. The truth of it is if you work 40 hours per week on the current Federal minimum wage, perhaps even juggling more than one part-time position, you’ll barely have enough money to survive.

Why is this the reality for so many Americans?