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The National Low Income Housing Coalition crunched federal rent and population data to reach its conclusions. The report defines a “housing wage” as how much a worker must earn to spend no more than 30-percent of their income renting a below-average apartment.
Colorado ranks 14th in the nation for highest housing wage. Outside of the cities, renters fair slightly worse. The state has the eighth-highest non-metropolitan housing age in the country.
The report finds that the average Colorado renter makes a bit more than $15 an hour, just a little less than what’s needed to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment.