Informative Tweet Explains How Rising Rents & Stagnant Wages Are Becoming a Crisis

It feels as though every day we log onto Twitter we are met with a new revelation about just how much things suck for people who aren't rich. Which is, let's be real, most of us. The average annual salary in the United States in 2021 was $51,480. Here in New York City, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $3,295 - a 32% increase from the previous year. While many people are being denied raises, the average raise paid to workers this year is 3.1% - a number that hardly accounts for the insane national increase average of 7.1%. In many cities, the increases are as high as 40%.  It's easy to brush off complaints about high rents and low wages - we all know that many boomers and politicians (and Kim Kardashian) think we just need to shut up and work harder. But that's often not possible. After a couple years of burnout, and living through this pandemic, the cycle is beginning to feel pretty thankless. 

Twitter user @Hawthorne_Rob summed the debilitating situation up pretty well in this tweet they shared yesterday. The figures are sobering. 

Think about all the families who need more than one bedroom, and have extra mouths to feed. Merely existing shouldn't feel like such an uphill battle. @Hawthorne_Rob's tweet inspired other concerned and stressed out citizens to share more data on the crisis - as well as their own stories of struggling to make ends meet. 

This twitter user shared their own research into how this data stacks up in different states, including the usual rule of making a salary that is three times the rent - a rule that is higher in some cities like New York. 

The data inspired the expected “move out of the cities” remarks. They can only be described as misguided. Cities provide jobs. And not everyone has the ability to just pick up and move - especially when wages are low and the cost of relocation is prohibitive. 

Most people, however, were more interested in education and sharing experiences. And some of the  posts really make us want to give up, like this still from TikTok. 

It's great that people are engaging in dialogue about this damaging plight on the working people - but we need to give credit where credit is due. Jimmy McMillan said it first - and definitely said it best: The rent is too damn high.