A person making minimum wage in Maine would need to work the equivalent of two full-time jobs — or 86 hours a week — in order to afford an average two-bedroom apartment, according to a new report. 

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s annual “Out of Reach” report, released Thursday, compares national, state and local “housing wages.” That’s defined as the hourly rate a full-time worker must earn in order to afford a “modest rental home” at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent without spending more than 30% of their income on housing. 

Maine’s housing wage for a two-bedroom rental is $32.32, more than double the minimum wage and far above what the state’s average renter wage of $18.29, according to the report. 

The calculation is also based on a fair market (or 40th percentile) rent of $1,681 a month — a number that is low for much of southern Maine.

“We have reached DEFCON 1 in terms of affordability in our state,” said Laura Mitchell, executive director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, the state partner of the national organization.

“When we’re looking at those wages, that is our workforce and they can’t afford housing. It’s really sad to think about the circumstances this is putting people in.”

MAINE GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE

Maine’s housing wage is lower than the national average of $34.73 per hour for a two-bedroom rental and $29.19 for a one-bedroom, according to the report. 

California is the most expensive state, with a housing wage of $52.79, while West Virginia is the least expensive, with a wage of $19.23.

According to the report, there is nowhere in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest two-bedroom rental home.

“Having a job is no longer a guarantee of housing stability,” the coalition wrote.

Maine was ranked as the most affordable of the New England states, just a few cents behind Vermont, but it has been rising in the national rankings, meaning it’s getting more expensive to live here. Last year, Maine’s housing wage was the 26th highest. This year it was 19th.

Just five years ago, the state’s housing wage was $21.39 per hour for a two-bedroom. A person making minimum wage (which in 2021 was $12.15) would have had to work 70 hours a week.

Mitchell said the state’s lack of inventory is to partly blame for Maine’s climb on the list.

“We have not been meeting our overall goals around housing production,” she said.

Recent data from the state shows that the state permitted about 7,500 units last year, technically meeting the state’s goal, but many of those permits were concentrated in seasonal and recreation-driven communities.

And developers in cities like Portland have said that while their projects are permitted, there are other factors like Portland’s inclusionary zoning policy or the federal government’s Build America Buy America program that are keeping them from breaking ground. Those permits aren’t translating into certificates of occupancy.

“Data from around the country shows that if you’re building enough housing, your rents start to go down,” Mitchell said. “We just have not hit that point yet. … It’s getting to be impossible to afford to live here.”

RISING COSTS IN THE SEACOAST

In Portland, the housing wage was $40.96, considerably higher than the statewide average. The York-Kittery-South Berwick metro area was higher still.

To afford the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Kittery, which HUD estimates at $2,202, a person would need to make $42.35 an hour.

Emily Flinkstrom — co-executive director of Mainspring, a social services collaborative with an affordable housing development arm — is not surprised to see Kittery top the list. 

The southern Maine seaside community is facing the same supply-and-demand challenges as other parts of the state, she said, and the abundance of second and third homes is putting pressure on both housing stock and prices. 

“If you look at the whole housing continuum, it’s just stuck at every level,” she said, adding that the high cost of housing “puts a lot of people in a really vulnerable position.”

Kittery is within commuting distance of Boston and saw a surge in demand during the pandemic as people in congested cities realized they could work remotely, Flinkstrom said. Supply has not kept pace — efforts to build more housing have been stymied by a lack of available land, restrictive zoning and a community resistant to change, she said. 

More and more, families are spending the bulk of their income on housing, Flinkstrom said, leaving little leftover. There has been a marked increase in the number of people turning to Mainspring for assistance. 

The organization’s Footprints food pantry has seen an average of 55 new households each month since it opened in early 2025.  

Flinkstrom said the Out of Reach report “debunks” the idea that people just need to work hard to make enough money to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”

For people making around minimum wage, it simply isn’t possible, she said. 

FUNDING NECESSARY

The National Low Income Housing Coalition said that in order to alleviate the housing affordability crisis, the federal government needs to prioritize federal housing assistance, which is currently only assisting one in four eligible households due to what it called “chronic underfunding.”

The recently-passed 21st Century Road to Housing Act makes strides by authorizing programs designed to improve housing affordability, boost inventory and encourage home ownership, but the bill doesn’t direct any money to the issue.

“The federal government must adequately fund housing programs in a way that would expand rental assistance and both preserve and increase the supply of deeply affordable homes for those with the lowest incomes,” the organization said in the report. 

Mitchell, with the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, agreed, adding that state and local governments should also be working to remove burdensome regulations that drive up the cost of construction.