Every Single Part of NYC is Unaffordable on $8.75/Hour

It's no secret that rents in New York City are sky-high, but a new study by StreetEasy exposes just how unaffordable they really are (h/t NYDN). According to rent data gathered by the real estate site, New Yorkers need to earn an hourly wage of $38.80 to independently afford the city's median rent of $2,690. But the most striking finding in the study is that for those making $8.75/hour, there isn't a single neighborhood in the five boroughs that is affordable. In order to live independently—without roomates or more than one job—New Yorkers either have to make more than $8.75/hour or work more than 40 hours a week in order not to expend more than 40 percent of their gross annual income on rent.

To afford an apartment in the city's priciest area of Central Park South, a New Yorker needs to earn at least $85.07/hour to afford the area's median rent. To put it another way, someone earning minimum wage would have to work 389 hours a week to afford an apartment around Central Park South and in the city's pricier areas, which include Tribeca, Dumbo, Stuy Town, Park Slope, Williamsburg, and Long Island City.

If 389 hours sounds like a lot, it is, considering that there's only 168 hours in a week. On the other hand, a New Yorker earning $15/hour—a figure that was recently proposed for the city's fast food workers—could hack it independently in Throgs Neck in the Bronx. Other neighborhoods New Yorkers with the most meager incomes could afford are New Dorp, where $15.76/hour, or Rockaway Beach, where $17.09/hour, are enough to afford median rents.

To accompany the stats, StreetEasy put together a handy, yet terrifically depressing interactive map that tells users how much they'd need to make an hour to afford a certain neighborhood. Here's a cheat sheet: the minimum wage necessary to afford median rents in Manhattan is $44.60, in Brooklyn its $35.87, in Queens its $29.67, in Staten Island its $26.21, and in the Bronx its $21.26.

· The High Burden of Low Wages: How Renting Affordably in NYC is Impossible on Minimum Wage [StreetEasy]
·l It's officially impossible to afford NCY rents on the minimum wage [NYDN]
· Every Single Part of Los Angeles is Unaffordable On $15/Hour [Curbed LA]