Are Connecticut Apartment And House Rentals Out Of Reach?

CONNECTICUT — It usually a lot easier to rent than to buy, but when it comes to places to live in Connecticut, it's still not very easy.

The typical household in Connecticut must earn nearly $55,000 annually to rent a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rate, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In their report, "Out of Reach," Connecticut is said to have the 10th highest "housing wage" in the country.

According to the recent study, fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Connecticut is $1,374. That's the state average; that rent will vary a good amount as you move from the coast through the farms.

A fair market rent is the Department of Housing and Urban Development's best estimate of what a household seeking a modest rental home in a short amount of time can expect to pay for rent and utilities in the current market, according to the NLIHC.

At the high end, there is the Stamford-Norwalk metro area, where you will need to budget $2,079 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. It'll be a lot tougher to make it into your NYC job from Windham County, but easier to make ends meet: the average rent there for the same flat is $1,020.

Statewide, the median renter earns $17.70 an hour, which means they can afford to rent an apartment for $921 a month, according to the report. On the average statewide, that's enough to score a studio.

If you're looking for a one-bedroom ($1,109/month) or better, you'll need either a partner or a better paying job. You'll pay less for that apartment in the Waterbury area, but you're likely earning less there as well. The NLIHC estimates you can get a Waterbury one-bedroom for around $906 monthly, but that's a hundred dollars a month more than you can afford at the average renter's wage there, of $15.50 an hour.

What's "affordable"? The coalition defines it as the cost of rent and utilities not in excess of 30 percent of household income. Cut down on the streaming services and eat only ramen noodles and you can live for less, if you call that living.

There are 460,240 rental properties in Connecticut, housing just over a third of the population. Here's how the rental neighborhoods measure up across the state, and how much you'll need to earn to live in each, according to the latest report from the NLIHC; the number of households and renter households is from the 2014-18 census:

The Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area is the priciest area in which to rent a house in the state, as well. You need an annual income of $83,160 to afford a 2-bedroom rental home there, or a full-time hourly wage of $39.98. That places that Connecticut metro area at No. 10 on the coalition's list nationally, in a roster dominated by California hotspots:

1. San Francisco, CA: $64.21
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $57.12
3. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA: $48.44
4. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA: $44.69
5. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA: $44.44
6. Oakland-Fremont, CA: $43.06
7. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA: $42.62
8. Honolulu, HI: $41.54
9. Seattle-Bellevue, WA: $40.37
10. Stamford-Norwalk: $39.98

If you're not married to living in a metropolitan area and are looking to rent someplace off the well-beaten path, you'll find Connecticut is actually more expensive than California. Here's what you'll need to earn per hour to rent that 2-bedroom home in the country's 10 most expensive "nonmetropolitan" areas, according to the NLIHC:

1. Hawaii $29.81
2. Alaska $26.11
3. Massachusetts $23.69
4. Connecticut $22.69
5. California $20.00
6. New Hampshire $19.90
7. Vermont $19.00
8. Maryland $18.91
9. Washington $18.34
10. Colorado $18.25

Across the nation and all neighborhoods, the national housing wage is $22.96 for a modest-two bedroom apartment, whereas the estimated average wage for a renter in the United States is only $17.57 per hour. So if you're feeling the market forces are stacked against you, you're not wrong, and that's pretty much the thesis of the NLIHC's report.

If nothing is quite in reach and you're still partial to New England winters, it may be time to take a hard look at your earnings. The coalition compiled a list of professions common in Connecticut and broke them down by their average hourly wages: