Renting In Worcester? You'll Might Need Two Jobs For That, Report Says

WORCESTER, MA — According to the most recent U.S. Census estimate, Worcester's individual per capita income is just under $29,000 per year, which you could make working full-time at $15 per hour.

But an annual report released Wednesday says $29,000 is not nearly enough to afford an apartment here — unless you worked two full-time jobs and never took a day off.

Each year, the Out of Reach study — compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition with research by the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance — looks at the gap between local wages and rental prices. In Worcester, the average two-bedroom apartment costs about $1,500 a month, which would eat nearly three-quarters of the pre-tax earnings of someone earning around $15 per hour.

"The Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,491. In order to afford this rent and utilities without paying more than 30 percent of their income, a household needs to earn $28.67 per hour," the 2022 study says. "However, the average wage of renters in Worcester and surrounding areas is only $14.25 per hour. In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment in Worcester at the minimum wage of $14.25, a renter would need to work 80 hours per week, 52 weeks per year."

Worcester has seen a development boom in recent years, but the city's new residential buildings — whose prices are set by the developers who build them — have not yet created enough supply in the rental market to drive prices down, according to the study.

Since July 2019, the average cost of a rental in Worcester has risen from about $1,300 to $1,660 last month, according to the real estate company RentCafé.

Worcester has taken some steps to improve affordability. The city has created an Affordable Housing Trust Fund seeded with $15 million from the city's $146 million pandemic stimulus allotment. The trust fund can be used to build new affordable housing and upgrade existing housing stock.

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The Worcester City Council has also directed city officials to institute an inclusionary zoning policy. A first version of the policy written by former city manager Ed Augustus Jr and Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn would require any new development with 12 or more units to set aside either 15 percent of "habitable square footage" as affordable for any household earning less than 80 percent of the area median income; or 10 percent of the habitable square footage for any household earning less than 60 percent of the area median income.

Although community advocates have said the 80 percent threshold is a good start, they'd rather see Worcester's inclusionary zoning policy be affordable for 60 percent of median income across the board. Worcester's median household income is about $52,000, and 80 percent of that is around $41,000 — still too costly for local residents who earn near minimum wage.

The city council will likely discuss and possibly vote on the inclusionary zoning policy at the next meeting in September.

"We know we need a multipronged approach to addressing this growing crisis," Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance Executive Director Leah Bradley said of the Out of Reach study findings. "It will take both keeping renters stably housed through rental assistance and tenant protection legislation, and increasing affordable housing units through production and other means for those at the lowest income who are at risk of or experiencing displacement and homelessness."