SAN DIEGO — It would take the income of more than three people earning minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment in San Diego, according to analysis from Zillow.
The real estate marketplace company said the average one-bedroom rental in America’s Finest City costs $1,962 a month and the typical two-bedroom rental costs $2,468 a month.
Zillow referred to rent data from the 2021 five-year American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, using monthly changes from the Zillow Observed Rent Index, to calculate those averages.
With the local minimum wage at $16.30 per hour, it would take 2.5 full-time jobs to afford a one-bedroom and 3.2 full-time jobs to afford a two-bedroom rental, according to Zillow.
The company used minimum wage data from the Economic Policy Institute and considered workers who worked full-time, or 40 hours per week per month, for its analysis.
For Zillow to consider a rental affordable, no more than 30% of the total household monthly income can be spent on rent payments each month.
When analyzing the 50 largest U.S. cities, San Diego ranked #22 for rent affordability based on minimum wage.
Overall, 11 cities in Zillow’s analysis require three or more full-time minimum wage workers to afford the typical one-bedroom rental.