An Augusta-area worker earning Georgia's minimum wage would have to work 75 hours a week to rent a one-bedroom home.
Data analyzed by The Augusta Chronicle revealed the money local residents would have to earn to afford rent depending on where they live. The calculated estimates are based on fair-market rent values in Richmond, Columbia, Burke and McDuffie counties. The data was compiled by the nonprofit National Low Income Housing Coalition and gathered from government reports.
To be considered affordable, the cost of rent and utilities must not exceed 30% of a household's income, according to the coalition.
In Richmond County, the average fair-market rent for a one-bedroom dwelling is$705. For two bedrooms, it's $823.
On average, a Richmond County resident would have to earn at least $13.55 an hour to afford a one-bedroom rental. To afford two bedrooms, a tenant would have to make $15.83 an hour.
Georgia’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. At that salary, a worker could afford to pay $377 a month for housing.
Paying a rent that low would likely require at least one roommate. Online searches of available rentals in the Augusta area couldn’t locate a single residence where one person could live alone at $377 a month. The search parameters for Realtor.com don’t even allow searches for a rent price that low.
The lowest rent found, at Realtor.com and Apartments.com, was at $395 a month for one room in a four-bedroom unit at Campus Side Apartments on Wrightsboro Road, near Augusta University's Forest Hills campus.
But on average, a two-bedroom rental in Augusta costs less than a one-bedroom inneighboring and more affluent Columbia County, where rents are higher.
A resident in Columbia County would have to earn on average at least $16.57 an hour to afford a one-bedroom rental, and $19.26 an hour for a two-bedroom.
The average fair-market rate for a one-bedroom Columbia County rentalis $862 a month. Two bedrooms cost $1,002. To pay those rents, you would have to earn, respectively, $16.57 an hour and $19.26 an hour.
Workers in the four-county area make an hourly average of $15.35, according to the coalition. On that salary, a typical worker in Richmond, Columbia, Burke or McDuffie could afford to pay monthly rent of $798.
Based on fair-market prices broken down by ZIP code, a rent just shy of $800 likely won’t allow someone to live alone in Evans, Martinez or Grovetown, according to the data.
Fair-market rent is calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the 40th percentile of gross rents for "regular, standard-quality units in a local housing market," according to the federal agency.
Rentals in the Evans 30809 ZIP code seem to command the highest fair-market price – $1,060 a month for a one-bedroom and $1,220 for a two-bedroom. A worker living inEvans would have to earn $20.38 to afford one bedroom and $23.46 for two.
In the mushrooming 30813 Grovetown ZIP code, an average one-bedroom monthly rental costs $980. A two-bedroom costs $1,130.
The lowest fair-market rents can be found in Augusta’s 30901 ZIP code. With an area of more than 20 square miles from the 13th Street Bridge almost to Augusta Regional Airport, the section encompasses a wide spectrum of prices. A one-bedroom apartment at Millhouse Station on 11th Street is asking $1,300 a month while a one-bedroom studio at the Maxwell House Apartments on Greene Street is asking $735. The Maxwell House participates in the federal government'sHousing Choice Voucher Program, more commonly known as Section 8, which helps subsidize housing for low-income citizens.
On average, fair-market rent in 30901 costs $650 for a one-bedroom and $770 for a two-bedroom. Hourly wages of $12.50 and $14.81 respectively would be required to pay those rents.
The same rents and wages apply to the 30805 ZIP code in and around the tiny Richmond County city of Blythe. The city of Harlem in Columbia County rates the same for two-bedrooms in rent and wages, but a shade higher for one-bedrooms – $12.69 an hour to make $660 monthly rent.
Regions with higher rents and lower rents show a disparity in other areas such as joblessness.
For example, the 30907 ZIP that includes Martinez in Columbia County and bits of Augusta reports an unemployment rate of less than 4%. Fair-market rent there is $840 for one bedroom and $970 for two bedrooms. In the lowest-rent 30901 portion of Augusta, the jobless rate more than quadruples to 16.8%.
High-rent Evans shows a poverty rate of 5.7% while 30901 Augusta shows 42.4%. But according to coalition figures, high poverty in certain ZIP codes doesn’t always correlate with low rents.
Northern Columbia County and western Richmond County have almost identical fair-market rents. Appling’s 30802 ZIP, at 7% poverty, shows rents of $770 and $920 for one- and two-bedrooms respectively. In the 30909 for west Augusta, it’s $790 and $910 but poverty is more than double at 14.5%.
However, 30802 covers more than 132 square miles and contains a little more than 6,300 people. ZIP Code30909 isfive times smaller with seven times more people. More than 41,000 residents inhabit just 26 square miles.
