The Most Inexpensive City For Renters In New York State

Unfortunately for millions of New York State residents who don’t own their own homes, paying rent is just one of those things that’s impossible to avoid. Having a safe place to lay your head down at night is a fundamental human necessity.

But, let’s be frank–paying monthly rent can be a huge headache, and more often than not, takes a huge chunk of the paychecks of hard-working New Yorkers. In many cities across the country, the cost of rent keeps rising while the wages workers make stays the same, making it difficult to close to impossible to cover all of the other important stuff we need, like groceries, healthcare, and even saving for the future.

Common financial advice suggests that no more than 30% of one’s gross income should be spent on housing. That being said, it’s incredibly rare to find a dwelling that meets that criteria, and many consider that “tip” out of date based on the average price of rent. However, one Upstate New York city comes pretty close.

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The Cheapest U.S. City For Renters Is In New York State

A new study from the real estate company Clever looked at minimum-wage employees across the country who worked a standard 40-hour workweek with no overtime or unpaid time off to see which city was truly the most affordable when it comes to rent.

After analyzing data from sources like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Labor Department, they found that Buffalo, New York workers spend the least of their salary on rent, thanks to factors like lower-cost housing and a strong state minimum wage rate ($15 per hour here in New York). Clever’s study shows that the average rent for a typical one-bedroom unit in Buffalo ($1,001) takes up the smallest percentage (39%) of a local full-time minimum-wage worker’s income.

That being said, rent in the City of Good Neighbors still isn’t exactly cheap. Considering the standard of what makes an apartment “affordable” is 30% or less of one’s income, rent still takes a more-than-sizeable chunk out of a worker’s take-home pay.

Hopefully someday the ratio between income and rent will be less daunting, but for those who just aren’t ready to invest in a home of their own, it’s a frustrating necessary evil– but at least Buffalo doesn’t have it quite as bad as several other cities.