The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Ohioans need to be making at least $22.51 an hour working a full-time job to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment, according to a new report released this week.
This is a slightly more than an 8% increase from last year — which was $20.81, according to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio and the National Low Income Housing Coalition 2025 Out of Reach report.
“The cost of rent is squeezing working Ohioans like never before,” said COHHIO Executive Director Amy Riegel. “Rent now consumes so much of the income that people need to survive. That’s why homelessness has been increasing and we’re seeing more and more seniors wind up in the homeless system.”
There were 11,759 people experiencing homelessness in Ohio last year— about a 3% increase, according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Housing Wage is an estimate of the hourly wage full-time workers must make to afford a rental home at HUD’s Fair Market Rent without spending more than 30% of their income.
The state’s Housing Wage has increased 40.7% since 2020, according to the report.
“Every year the housing market keeps pushing people closer and closer to the breaking point,” Riegel said.
Ohio’s minimum wage is $10.70 per hour, meaning a minimum wage worker would have to work 84 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental, according to the report.
Ohio’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,171, meaning a household must earn $46,825 annually, according to the report. The state’s Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $937, according to the report. Ohio has nearly 1.6 million renter households.
However, the average Ohio renter earns $18.62 an hour — $3.89 an hour less than needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to the report.
The Housing Wage is higher in urban parts of the state, according to the report. Renters in Columbus need to earn at least $27.79 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment, in Cincinnati it’s $24.75 an hour and in Cleveland it’s $23.23.
Of the 15 most common jobs in Ohio, only general operation managers, registered nurses, truck drivers and maintenance workers earn more than $22.51 an hour, according to the report. This means 1.2 million Ohio jobs don’t pay enough to afford a basic two-bedroom apartment.
Fast food workers, stockers, retail salesperson, cashiers, laborers, home health aides, janitors, and waiters all earn less than $20 an hour in Ohio, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2024 data.
The median wage for home health aides has increased by $3.34 since 2020, but Ohio’s 2-bedroom Housing Wage went up $6.52 during that same period, according to the report.
“The state has taken steps to improve home health aides’ pay to care for Ohio’s growing senior population,” Riegel said. “But home health aides still can’t afford to live near many of their clients, and they can’t afford the food, transportation, healthcare, and childcare they need to keep working.”
At the federal level, the Trump Administration has proposed cutting 44% of HUD’s overall funding and getting rid of rental assistance programs.
“Low-income renters continue to face impossible choices between paying rent and meeting basic needs,” said NLIHC President and CEO Renee Willis. “Cutting federal housing investments would only deepen the housing crisis.”
