What's the minimum wage necessary to afford a median rental property here in the New York City? Well, according to this neat little map from Zillow, it's a lot; $46.86/hour for a single-earner household, or, an annual salary of $93,720 to be exact.
Despite telling us exactly what we already know (New York is ridiculously expensive) the map reveals some interesting bits of information, like the fact that the greater New York area is still more affordable than San Francisco, whose median rent suggests an hourly wage of $59.72, or that the most affordable area in the country is Flint, MI, where you can live comfortably on just $12.82/hour.
Matthew Yglesias offers up analysis over at Vox, arguing that places like Greater Austin and the Twin Cities are "fairly affluent areas, with highly educated populations and high wages," but lack the "combination of land scarcity and strict zoning that make housing units so scarce in coastal California and the Northeast Corridor." For example, an hourly wage of $32.66 is enough to afford a median rental property in Austin.
· Map: Do you earn enough to afford the median rental in your city? [Vox]