In order to comfortably rent an average 2-bedroom unit in the state of Louisiana, you have to make at least $15.81 an hour, while working 40-hours-a-week, for 52 weeks.

How do we get there? Keep reading...

There's been a lot of talk about increasing the minimum wage over the last few years, it's actually become a pretty hot-button topic. But why?

Not only are the prices of food, gas, and goods going up, but the cost of shelter has been increasing by insane rates over the last two decades as well. However the purchasing power of the minimum wage has been shrinking as costs have been growing.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the United States Department of Labor, in 1991, the minimum wage was $4.25 an hour, which adjusted for inflation actually equals $7.37 in "2015 dollars", and in 1968 when the minimum wage was $1.60, that actually translated into the purchase power of $10.86 in "2015 dollars". Which is why your parents and grandparents were able to pay their own way through college, while you're going to go broke trying to make it through your Freshman year.

It also explains how they were able to buy their homes without having to rely on 30-year-mortgages and adjusted-interest-rates.

With the price of existing homes increasing at rapid rates, and the rules around mortgages tightening, it's becoming harder and harder for the younger generations to purchase homes, which is forcing a lot into the rental market, which is then causing the prices in the rental market to explode.

Across the entire US, you need to make an average of $20.30 an hour, while working 40-hours-a-week and working 52 weeks a year. This data was all packaged together nicely by the folks at dontwasteyourmoney.com, and is based on data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

In Texas, you need even more...$17.60 an hour is what you'll need to knock down to get it done. At the same time, Arkansas is a little cheaper at $13.26 an hour. But at least none of us are in California, where you have to make $28.59 an hour to survive.

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