Dallasites Work Nearly Half of Each Month on Average Just to Afford Rent, New Study Says

If you thought San Francisco and New York City were the only cities where pairing up with roommates was nearly a must for renters, a new analysis should have you thinking differently about Dallas.Dallas is among the top ten major cities in the country where residents must work the longest each month in order to afford rents, according to a new study from financial website SmartAsset.Rents have been rising steadily in America while wages have remained relatively stagnant for more than a decade. This means the average worker needs to work even more to afford the average rent costs in many places. Texas, overall, is known for falling slightly on the unfavorable end of the spectrum for middle-class earning families trying to afford living costs.SmartAsset analyzed median rent data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics to discern which cities require the most work to afford housing.In Dallas, rent for a one-bedroom apartment averages $992, according to the study. Taking into account a $15/hr wage, the study suggests it would require roughly 66 hours of work each month just to afford rent. That comes to about 41 percent of the average hours worked monthly being put solely toward rent costs, ranking the city just two places below San Francisco in the study.  Continue reading...