Rent is skyrocketing in the United States — a new study has found that a minimum-wage worker cannot afford a basic, two-bedroom apartment. The cost of living in the 21st century has tripled since the 1960s. Rent, auto payments, and college tuition have also tripled in the past 50 years.
It’s easy to mock millennials for their habits, but this generation is facing an uphill battle to gain an affordable cost of living. To even rent a two-bedroom apartment In New York the average worker must make, at least, $30 per hour. And nationally, rent prices have exceeded the minimum wage for an average worker.
This should not come as a surprise since homeownership has fallen to 63 percent since 2015. Additionally, mortgage and rent have inflated beyond a reasonable affordability.
For the prior generation, everything was affordable; And there wasn’t an administration bent on undermining low-income citizens.
Baby boomers rented apartments for far less than millennials do. A generation ago, a full-time job covered the full cost of your apartment and other expenses.
Cost of living: Baby boomers versus millennials
Everything has inflated to the point of absurdity. A generation ago, baby boomers did not face such expensive costs.
Earning minimum wage can barely afford you a single-bedroom apartment today. According to records, baby boomers rented the same single-bedroom apartment for $78. Today, that apartment would cost $590.
Between the years of 1960 and 2000 rent prices increased by 46 percent. In fact, the average price for a house in the 1960s was $11,000. Now, it’s more than $100,000. College tuition averaged about $3,900 in the 1980s but has tripled to $9,500 today.
It’s a shame that the baby boomers could afford their cost of living, while millennials are burdened with such an unreasonable one.
Meeting the cost of living.
While the cost of living is high, millennials are also managing their money differently to try and combat it. Many are taking second jobs or side hustles to meet the high demand of living.
The average cost for a rental apartment in New York City is $1,561. Rent keeps increasing every month. This has forced millennials to find alternative methods to meet their monthly expenses.
To avoid expensive rent prices, millennials are rooming with numerous people and splitting the rent. It’s projected that millennials could spend $93,000 in rent before they turn 30.
Many are relying on their parents for financial costs until they can become financially independent. Even though youth unemployment is at 8.4 percent and the general unemployment is at 2.8 percent, rent remains to be one of the highest expenses for millennials.
To meet the basic necessities, landlords and state senators need to realize how expensive rent prices have become. Especially since an average worker cannot afford the basic cost of a two-bedroom apartment.
Millennials underneath a scrutinizing administration
New York state is the fourth-most expensive rental market. Coming in first is Hawaii. This ridiculous inflation cannot be tolerated anymore. And low-income citizens are suffering the most from this rental inflation.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to undermine low-income housing. For instance, Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, motioned to triple rent for public housing. He believes that the rent hike will incentivize low-income residents to find work. Contrary to Carson’s belief, however, it has actually been found that the majority of low-income residents already work full-time jobs and still need rent assistance.
Carson’s behavior is no surprise when one considers that the administration continues to portray low-income citizens as people who love to live off a welfare check. Everything that a millennial needs to survive either comes at a price almost too impossible to meet. Or is, in fact, impossible to meet.
Takeaway
It’s demeaning how millennials get put down for their lack of basic needs when they are actually just trying to survive in a climate that intends to hike up the price for every basic necessity.
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