One of the common misconceptions of San Angeloans who live in the open is that if they would just get a job they would be able to afford a place to live. Wage and housing statistics show it is not that simple. To afford a one bedroom apartment in San Angelo the average renter must make over two times what he or she could earn working at minimum wage.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition tracks rental affordability by Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). An MSA is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as an urban area with a population of over 50,000. The Average Median Income (AMI) of the San Angelo MSA is $78,000. (The AMI of the City of San Angelo is lower, around $64,000.) Housing costs should typically not be over 30% of one’s income. This means that the affordable rent a person should pay at 30% of the AMI for a one bedroom apartment is $585 per month. This includes the cost of utilities.
The average wage necessary to afford such a one bedroom apartment is $17.83 per hour. Minimum wage workers only earn approximately 40% of that amount. The average wage for renters in the San Angelo MSA is estimated to be slightly lower than necessary at $17.58. This of course is the average which means a lot of people fall below that wage level
Averages and Medians are good statistics to utilize, but they are not people living in the real world. The reality is that fair market value of a one bedroom apartment in San Angelo costs much more than $585 per month. According to the website Aparments.Com, the average cost of a one bed-room apartment in San Angelo is $934 per month. Therefore, a single person making minimum wage will have a difficult time making enough money to afford basic rent and utilities. If we add a family or children that situation becomes financially impossible.
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For more information on this topic see https://www.liveunitedconchovalley.org/meet-alice
p.s. Thanks for the good local journalism.