Fast Food Worker · Los Angeles, CA
cover a month's rent on a one-bedroom in Los Angeles for a fast food worker earning the median $20.24 an hour.
Hours of work = monthly rent ÷ BLS median hourly wage ($2,402 ÷ $20.24). After federal taxes the same rent takes 138.7 h of take-home pay. CA state income tax isn't deducted, so real take-home is a bit higher-taxed.
Rent costs
118.7 hours
of work to cover one month
Wages May 2025 estimates · Rent FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026)
01 · Paycheck prints
Rate $20.24 × 173.3 hours (2,080 ÷ 12) prints gross pay of $3,509.
Rent costs
118.7 hours
of work to cover one month
Wages May 2025 estimates · Rent FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026)
02 · Taxes peel off
2026 single filer, standard deduction. State income tax is not deducted here.
Taxes · $508 · peeled
03 · Rent tears away
118.7 h
of work at $20.24/hr pays $2,402, one month of a one-bedroom in Los Angeles. The strip is drawn to scale: $2,402 of a $3,509 gross month (68% of stub).
Background tint · rent burden 80.0% of take-home
Hours of work
118.7
HUD Fair Market Rent FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026) · Los Angeles metro
04 · What's left is yours
Strained
What's left · yours
$599
05 · Floor plan
Rent hatches rooms in ledger red, to scale against take-home. Toggle a 2-bedroom — both figures are precomputed HUD FMRs.
Hatched share is 80% of take-home (1BR).
06 · Street grid
Hours of work to cover a one-bedroom's rent, all metros, fewest hours first.
Comfortable (rent ≤ 30% of take-home)Stretched (30–40%)Strained (> 40%)
Sorted by hours of work (1-bedroom HUD FMR ÷ median hourly wage), fewest first. Rank on the page still uses rent share of take-home.
| # | Metro | Hours | Rent | Wage / hr | 0 – 52 h (HUD 30% of gross) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Detroit | 82.0 h | $1,167 | $14.23 | |
| 02 | Riverside–San Bernardino | 83.9 h | $1,705 | $20.33 | |
| 03 | Minneapolis–St. Paul | 89.8 h | $1,427 | $15.89 | |
| 04 | Phoenix | 89.9 h | $1,493 | $16.61 | |
| 05 | Houston | 95.2 h | $1,261 | $13.25 | |
| 06 | Philadelphia | 100.6 h | $1,558 | $15.49 | |
| 07 | Baltimore | 102.1 h | $1,625 | $15.91 | |
| 08 | Denver | 102.7 h | $1,831 | $17.82 | |
| 09 | Chicago | 106.9 h | $1,780 | $16.65 | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 108.6 h | $2,290 | $21.09 | |
| 11 | Dallas–Fort Worth | 113.8 h | $1,536 | $13.50 | |
| 12 | San Diego | 115.1 h | $2,335 | $20.28 | |
| 13 | Seattle | 115.8 h | $2,180 | $18.82 | |
| 14 | Tampa | 117.1 h | $1,648 | $14.07 | |
| 15 | Los Angeles | 118.7 h | $2,402 | $20.24 | |
| 16 | Atlanta | 121.2 h | $1,619 | $13.36 | |
| 17 | Washington, DC | 132.5 h | $2,204 | $16.64 | |
| 18 | Boston | 144.3 h | $2,518 | $17.45 | |
| 19 | Miami | 149.1 h | $2,121 | $14.23 | |
| 20 | New York | 160.2 h | $2,729 | $17.03 | |
One month at the median wage, line by line, in dollars and in hours of work.
| Line | Per month | Hours of work | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $3,509 | 173.4 | $42,110 ÷ 12 |
| Federal income tax | −$239 | 11.8 | $2,873/yr ÷ 12 |
| Social Security + Medicare | −$268 | 13.3 | $3,221/yr ÷ 12 |
| Take-home | $3,001 | 148.3 | CA wage tax not deducted |
| Rent · 1BR FMR | −$2,402 | 118.7 | HUD FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026) |
| Yours | $599 | 29.6 | take-home − rent |
Hours = dollars ÷ $20.24; 173.3 = 2,080 hrs ÷ 12. May not sum exactly due to rounding.
Same $2,402 one-bedroom, different fast food worker paychecks.
Bar scale includes the HUD 30%-of-gross line at 52.0 h (52 h rounded). Same 1-bedroom, different paychecks (BLS wage percentiles ÷ 2,080 hrs).
This ranking uses rent share of take-home (rank 16 of 20), not hours.
oesm25ma.zip, retrieved 2026-10-06.FY27_FMRs.xlsx, retrieved 2026-10-05.Take-home = annual wage − 2026 federal income tax (single filer, standard deduction) − Social Security and Medicare. State and local income taxes are not deducted. Wages are May 2025 estimates; rents are HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (effective Oct 1, 2026). Full details on the methodology page. Page data last rebuilt 2026-10-06.