- Those relied on to keep cities functioning, including childcare workers, home health and personal care workers, ambulance drivers, and maids are now priced out of renting in almost all major metros.
- Most essential workers are no longer able to follow the '30% rule' - the maximum recommended proportion of income spent on housing costs - even if they live with roommates.
- The median salary before taxes needed to rent a room in a shared home ranges from $34,480/year in Houston to $59,040/year in New York.
Spending less than 30% of income on rent is no longer an attainable affordability threshold for the workers cities rely on to function, according to new data from roommate site SpareRoom.
New York is the metro area that's least able to affordably house its essential workers. With the highest average room rent ($1,476/month), people must earn at least $59,040/year to ensure they don't spend more than 30% of their wages on housing costs.
Living with roommates has always been the cheapest way to rent and yet US workers earning the national median wage of $49,500/year are now priced out of shared living in six of the 22 most popular metro areas, including Miami where the average roommate rent is $1,318/month, and San Diego ($1,316/month).
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the gross median annual wage of childcare workers at $32,050/year, meaning they've been priced out of renting as a roommate in every major metropolitan area in SpareRoom's index. Ambulance drivers, who earn a median salary of $34,330/year, could just afford to rent a room in Houston.
The situation is little better for maids and housekeeping cleaners who earn $34,660/year, and home health and personal care aides earning £34,900/year before taxes.
The table below shows average room rents in the 22 metros with the highest rental supply in Q3 2025, and what renters need to be earning, before taxes, if they are to keep within the 30% affordability threshold. It also looks at rent budgets as a proportion of salaries by job in each metro:
| Metropolitan Area | Average monthly room rent Q3 2025 | Need to earn monthly | Need to earn annually | % of salary spent on rent: childcare worker on $32,050 | % of salary spent on rent: ambulance driver/ attendant on $34,330 |
% of salary spent on rent: maids/ cleaners on $34,660 | % of salary spent on rent: home health/ personal care aides on $34,900 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NJ, NY | $1,476 | $4,920 | $59,040 | 55% | 52% | 51% | 51% |
| Los Angeles, CA | $1,352 | $4,507 | $54,080 | 51% | 47% | 47% | 46% |
| San Francisco Bay Area, CA | $1,320 | $4,400 | $52,800 | 49% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
| Miami, FL | $1,318 | $4,393 | $52,720 | 49% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
| San Diego, CA | $1,316 | $4,387 | $52,640 | 49% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
| Boston, MA, NH | $1,267 | $4,223 | $50,680 | 47% | 44% | 44% | 44% |
| Fort Lauderdale, FL | $1,162 | $3,873 | $46,480 | 44% | 41% | 40% | 40% |
| Washington D.C., DC, MD, VA, WV | $1,142 | $3,807 | $45,680 | 43% | 40% | 40% | 39% |
| Seattle, WA | $1,062 | $3,540 | $42,480 | 40% | 37% | 37% | 37% |
| Denver, CO | $1,051 | $3,503 | $42,040 | 39% | 37% | 36% | 36% |
| Riverside, CA | $1,015 | $3,383 | $40,600 | 38% | 35% | 35% | 35% |
| Sacramento, CA | $1,002 | $3,340 | $40,080 | 38% | 35% | 35% | 34% |
| Chicago, IL, IN, WI | $973 | $3,243 | $38,920 | 36% | 34% | 34% | 33% |
| Tampa, FL | $952 | $3,173 | $38,080 | 36% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
| Atlanta, GA | $934 | $3,113 | $37,360 | 35% | 33% | 32% | 32% |
| Phoenix, AZ | $933 | $3,110 | $37,320 | 35% | 33% | 32% | 32% |
| Austin, TX | $920 | $3,067 | $36,800 | 34% | 32% | 32% | 32% |
| Orlando, FL | $914 | $3,047 | $36,560 | 34% | 32% | 32% | 31% |
| Dallas, TX | $890 | $2,967 | $35,600 | 33% | 31% | 31% | 31% |
| Philadelphia, MD, NJ, PA | $885 | $2,950 | $35,400 | 33% | 31% | 31% | 30% |
| Las Vegas, NV | $879 | $2,930 | $35,160 | 33% | 31% | 30% | 30% |
| Houston, TX | $862 | $2,873 | $34,480 | 32% | 30% | 30% | 30% |
An August 2025 survey of 1,257 U.S. roommates by SpareRoom revealed more than a third (35%) had borrowed money from friends or family in order to pay their rent, while 28% had relied on credit cards and 16% had taken out loans. More than four in 10 (43%) roommates had taken on second jobs or income streams in addition to their main sources of income.
Matt Hutchinson, director of roommate site SpareRoom, comments: “Living with roommates is the cheapest way to rent, so when even sharing becomes unaffordable, there's a serious problem. Essential workers often can't move out to cheaper neighborhoods because shift patterns and antisocial hours make long commutes challenging and more expensive. And it's not always possible to reduce expenditure either, which puts people at greater risk of falling into debt. We're seeing that play out in the numbers of roommates relying on loans and credit to pay rent. This is a huge problem. Cities rely on essential workers, as does the economy. This isn't just an issue for a handful of people, it's becoming a national epidemic.”