Georgia's average wage places it 26th in the country, according to the NLIHC analysis, and makes it one of the most expensive states in the South, behind only Florida (No. 16 nationally) and Texas (No. 24).
According to its website, the NLIHC advocates for preserving existing federal housing resources and expanding the supply of low-income housing, among other things.
Click here to compare rents for cities across metro Atlanta
For this report, being able to "afford" an apartment means not having to spend more than 30 percent of your income on rent. Rents in the report are calculated according to HUD's Fair Market Rent.
Another recent analysis also found rent increases around the metro Atlanta area: for a two-bedroom, up 11 percent from 2014 in Sandy Springs, and more than 9 percent in Smyrna and Marietta. One-bedroom rents increased more: up 12 percent in Sandy Springs, nearly 11 percent in Dunwoody, and more than 9 percent in Duluth and Norcross.
CityLab, an urban news website, put it this way:
"Rents keep rising because the demand for rentals keeps growing, and that's partly because fewer people can afford to buy their homes today than they could before the recession," Tanvi Visna wrote. "The low supply of rentals has created a situation where people who definitely can't afford to buy are also priced out of renting."
(As Visna notes, citing Pew, nearly 21 million Americans work for near-minimum wage.)
These dynamics are at work in Georgia as elsewhere across the country. They were discussed at some length in a set of columns in March.
"Expect Atlanta apartment rental rates to continue their upward march for years to come," Frank K. Norton Jr. wrote.
The NLICHC "Out of Reach" report also includes individual state information.
Some other interesting facts:
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