States Where Most Of Your Salary Goes To Rent, New Jersey’s Is Outrageous

Forbes Home wanted to get to the bottom of the most expensive rents in America.  Exactly what states have the highest rents and how much of their income does that rent gobble up?  New Jersey’s stats will astonish you, or maybe not.

The state that spends the most on rent is Hawaii.  OK, it is paradise so maybe it is justified?

Forbes analyzed the data and the survey was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to see in which states and putting most of their paychecks into rent. 

The average monthly income for a Hawaii resident is around 5K per month.  The average rent there costs about $2,136 dollars per month.  That means 42% of their money goes to rent. That money never finds its way back to you, it is gone like the wind.

California is in second place on the list with about 30% of their income going to rent. The average Californian makes $76K.  

Who’s third on this not-so-prestigious list?  You guessed it. New Jersey.  The average salary here is 77K and the average rent is almost $2,000 per month.  About 30% of your income is getting tossed right out the window on rent.  The trouble is, under these circumstances how does one save enough money to buy a home in New Jersey?  The only solution in my humble opinion is to move home after college, work full time and after 5 years take your savings and use it as a downpayment to buy something small.  Paying rent is literally giving your downpayment for home ownership to someone else.

I did not have that option growing up.  I had to figure it out and make it work with having two or more jobs to make ends meet but as soon as I could afford to do it, I bought.  Then when the market is right you sell and move somewhere where you get more value for your money and after a few years sell that.  That is what I did until I could take all the proceeds from those sales, combine them all we buy a home in New Jersey.  It should not be this hard but it is. Here is the full breakdown of all the states from most affordable to least affordable, the average annual salary, and the average rent cost:
1 South Dakota $64,462  $871
2 Illinois $67,244  $918
3 Nebraska $61,205  $861
4 North Dakota $64,524  $923
5 Wyoming $69,666  $1,018
6 Kansas $58,924  $869
7 Minnesota $66,280  $989
8 Iowa $57,163  $868
9 Missouri $55,325  $842
10 Pennsylvania $64,279  $994
11 Wisconsin $59,626  $932
12 Ohio $56,879  $904
13 Tennessee $56,560  $902
14 Arkansas $50,625  $809
15 Indiana $56,497 $920
16 Oklahoma $53,870  $879
17 Michigan $56,494  $928
18 New York $76,837  $1,263
19 Kentucky $51,266  $847
20 Georgia $55,786 $930
21 Texas $59,865  $1,011
22 Alabama $49,769  $841
23 Montana $56,949  $973
24 North Carolina $56,173 $976
25 West Virginia $48,488 $851
26 Washington $73,775  $1,296
27 Maine $58,484 $1,040
28 Virginia $66,305  $1,190
29 Louisiana $54,217  $975
30 Colorado $70,706  $1,280
31 New Hampshire $73,200  $1,325
32 Mississippi $45,881  $833
33 Nevada $60,213  $1,094
34 Connecticut $83,294  $1,533
35 South Carolina $52,467  $970
36 Utah $56,019  $1,043
37 Idaho $52,369  $987
38 Vermont $61,882  $1,180
39 Florida $62,270  $1,206
40 New Mexico $50,311 $1,003
41 Arizona $55,487  $1,143
42 Oregon $61,596  $1,284
43 Rhode Island $64,376 $1,359
44 Maryland $69,817  $1,478
45 Alaska $65,813  $1,403
46 Delaware $59,931  $1,288
47 Massachusetts $83,653  $1,823
48 New Jersey $77,016  $1,765
49 California $76,614  $1,818
50 Hawaii $60,947  $2,136

Homeownership is the American dream for a reason.  The best thing you can do is find a creative way to get enough money together to buy whether it means having lots of roommates, living at home after college, or market jumping as I did, I wish you well getting out of the rent trap!