Cities where you need a roommate to afford your rent -By Nezihe Soyalan

When you think of the most expensive places to rent, cities like New York and San Francisco come to mind. Sure, the average monthly rent for in New York was $1,228 and $1,598 for San Francisco in 2014. But based on how much someone’s income goes to rent, these coastal cities don’t even make the top five.

According to data released last month from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the share of American households that rent rose to a 20-year high of 35.5% in 2014. Conventional financial wisdom holds that you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your income on housing – otherwise known as the 30% income rule. But that rule may have outworn its use considering that the share of renters aged 25-34 paying more than 30% of their income on housing increased from 40% to 46% from 2003 to 2013, according to the Harvard report. And of that group, those with more than half their income going toward rent rose from 19% to 23% over the same period.

Make Room, a group aiming to raise awareness of those struggling to pay rent, put together a list of the most expensive cities to rent using data from Harvard’s housing study.
Here are the five U.S. cities where you’ll definitely need a roommate to make the rent:

5. Fresno, Calif.
- What a typical household earns every year (median income): $26,600
- What that household can afford in monthly rent: $ 665
- What that household spends on rent and utilities: $870
-Percentage of households paying more than half of income to rent and utilities: 32%.

4. Los Angeles
-What a typical household earns every year: $40,000
- What that household can afford in monthly rent: $1,000
- What that household spends on rent and utilities $1,260
- Percentage of households paying more than half of income to rent and utilities: 32.3%.

3. New Haven, Conn.
-What a typical household earns every year: $30,000
-What that household can afford in monthly rent: $750
-What that household spends on rent and utilities: $1,020
-Percentage of households paying more than half of income to rent and utilities: 32.9%.

2. New Orleans, La.
-What a typical household earns every year: $27,000
-What that household can afford in monthly rent: $675
-What that household spends on rent and utilities: $ 903
-Percentage of households paying more than half of income to rent and utilities: 35%.

1. Miami, Fl.
-What a typical household earns every year: $32,000
-What that household can afford in monthly rent: $800
-What that household spends on rent and utilities: $1,100
-Percentage of households paying more than half of income to rent and utilities: 35.7%

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