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A \u201cFor Rent\u201d sign in front of a building in Miami Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n
Joe Raedle<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Miami-area minimum-wage workers need to clock north of 130 hours a week to afford housing \u2014 at least if they want a two-bedroom.<\/p>\n
An average two-bedroom apartment in the Miami metropolitan area costs roughly $2,440 a month, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. To comfortably afford that unit, someone would need to earn roughly $47 an hour, or $97,000 a year \u2014 well above Florida\u2019s $14 minimum wage, a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition<\/a> shows. HUD considers housing affordable if it doesn\u2019t cost more than 30% of your monthly paycheck.<\/p>\n In only one part of the Sunshine State is it more expensive to live: the Keys, where Monroe County\u2019s \u201chousing wage\u201d \u2014 what you need to earn to comfortably afford housing \u2014 is more than $48 an hour.<\/p>\n The median Miami-area worker earns $32.30 an hour, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, slightly below the nationwide average of $33.54.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s minimum wage is $14 an hour, and, at that rate, someone would need to log roughly 134 hours a week \u2014 the equivalent of 3.3 full-time jobs \u2014 to affordably cover rent on that two-bedroom.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s bad, but Miami\u2019s worse<\/p>\n The picture across Florida looks almost as bad as it does in Miami. Statewide, the housing wage for a two-bedroom is $37.93 an hour \u2014 the 10th-highest of any state in the country, according to the coalition\u2019s report.<\/p>\n Someone pulling the state\u2019s minimum wage would have to put in 108 hours a week, roughly 2.7 full-time jobs, to afford a two-bedroom. An affordable one-bedroom costs a minimum-wage-earning Floridian 91 hours, or 2.3 jobs.<\/p>\n Nearly 2.8 million workers in Florida\u2019s most common occupations earn below \u2014 and, in many cases, well below \u2014 that housing wage.<\/p>\n More than 455,000 earn within a dollar of the minimum wage, according to data from United Way, and nearly four times that number earn less than $20 an hour.<\/p>\n And while affordability is an acute issue across Florida, Miami-Dade feels it most intensely. About 56% of all households in the county are struggling to make ends meet<\/a>.<\/p>\n Soaring housing costs and low wages are largely to blame. HUD\u2019s fair-market rent for a Miami-area two-bedroom rose from $1,454 in 2019 to $2,324 in 2024 \u2014 a nearly 60% jump. Median household income in the region grew just 34% over that same stretch.<\/p>\n The squeeze is already changing who lives here. Miami-Dade lost roughly 10,000 residents last year \u2014 an exodus that experts say skews young.<\/p>\n This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O\u2019Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.<\/p>\n![\"Few](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QnAO2-here-s-what-florida-s-most-common-jobs-pay-.png\" "\\"QnAO2-here-s-what-florida-s-most-common-jobs-pay-.png\\"")
Few of Florida\u2019s most common occupations pay what the National Low Income Housing Coalition would consider a \u201chousing wage.\u201d Max Klaver Max Klaver <\/p>\n
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