The Rural Blog reports that minimum wage is severely inadequate to support a single-parent home in the United States. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, workers in Hawaii would need to earn $32, in California $27, and in New York $26 an hour to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment.
Closer to home, things aren’t much better. An Oklahoma single parent would need to work 59 hours a week at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment. In Kansas, that same worker would need to work 62 hours, in Texas the rate rises to 73 hours, and in Colorado, a single parent would need to work 75 hours at minimum wage to afford a decent apartment. The study found that in no state can a single parent even afford a one-bedroom apartment while working 40 hours a week at minimum wage.
