According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), in 2024, a full-time minimum wage earner in any state in the U.S. will not be able to afford a two-bedroom rental apartment. But according to real estate agent and TikTok creator Freddie Smith (@fmsmith319), that wasn’t the case in the 1980s. In a viral video, Smith explained how a minimum wage earner could easily pay rent in the ’80s and how impossible that is for the younger generation today.
2024 vs. 1980s
In the viral video, which has been viewed over 7.9 million times, Smith breaks down how much workers from both generations had to pay for rent. He explains that in the 1980s, rent for a basic one-bedroom apartment was $243. At the time, the minimum wage was $3.10 a day, which equates to a monthly gross income of $496. That meant that a minimum wage worker had to spend 48.9 percent of their income on rent.
For 2024, Smith says the average rent is now $1,747 and the federal minimum wage is about $7.25, which would put gross income at $1,160. Not surprisingly, the minimum wage today is not enough for workers to pay rent.
Smith even doubled the minimum wage to $14.50, since that’s how much people at Walmart and some fast-food restaurants make. That was enough to cover rent, but workers still had to pay a whopping 75 percent of their income.
Going beyond minimum wage, Smith says the average income for a college graduate in the U.S. is currently about $24, according to ZipRecruiter. So their gross income is $3,840. That means they have to spend about 45.4% of their income on rent, which is almost the same as what a minimum wage earner paid in the ’80s.
In addition, according to the NLIHC’s Out of Reach report, in 2024, a full-time worker will need to earn an hourly wage of $26.74 to comfortably afford a one-bedroom rental apartment.
He goes on to say that a college graduate who studied for four to five years and paid $50,000 to $70,000 for his degree has to spend the same amount as a minimum wage earner who took a two-week training course in the 1980s to get a job.
While the numbers cited by the creator were astonishing, viewers didn’t seem surprised, as they were aware of the reality. “And that was ONE person in 1980. Today we NEED TWO incomes to SURVIVE,” commented user @metallicaman8.
Several viewers also argued that college graduates don’t make anywhere near as much as $24. “I was just offered a SENIOR level position. A Bachelor of Science and 3+ years of work experience have the audacity to offer me $16.50 an hour,” user @amandacbock shared.
Meanwhile, many expressed frustration that the older generation doesn’t understand their issues. “Young boomers here, I’ve had this argument with older boomers… the numbers have definitely changed… I feel bad for the young people,” wrote user @cactusking2024. “Baby boomers have no clue,” complained another user @mud.mouth.
For more informative videos and interesting content, follow Freddie Smith (@fmsmith319) on TikTok.
