In California, over half of renters are cost-burdened (paying over 30 percent of income on housing). The state also has the top 3 cities in which renters have to work the most hours, more than 85, to pay the rent.
'Midwest is best', says SmartAsset, as this region requires the least amount of working hours to pay the rent with four of the five cities at the bottom of the ranking. In cities like Indianapolis, Columbus, Chicago, and Detroit, it takes less than two weeks of work to pay for rent, or between 56.6 hours in Indianapolis to 61.7 hours in Chicago. Median monthly gross rent in Indianapolis is $835, and $1,034 in Chicago.
With or without income taxes, the top three cities in this ranking would not change. San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego would still take the top three spots. However, on average, workers in these cities would see incomes increase by about $5 per hour if they were not paying income taxes. That translates to about 17 hours less of work needed to pay rent.
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