Last week, we examined Hoosier families’ incomes and what it really takes to achieve housing stability. We also introduced you to ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed). These are working Hoosiers who are employed but facing economic hardship, yet do not qualify for federal assistance, simply put, because they make too much money. This means 38% of Hoosier households are working hard and still unable to afford the basics. This week, we’ll talk about who ALICE often is in our community.
The Housing Wage vs. The Real Wage
Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Prosperity Indiana publish Out of Reach, a report that answers one question: what do you have to earn to afford a modest rental home?
The answer for Indiana:
- $22.18 per hour. That’s Indiana’s Housing Wage. This is what a full-time worker must earn to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent ($1,153/month) without spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
- $18.05 per hour. That’s what the average Hoosier renter actually earns; this is more than $4 an hour short.
- $43,672. Indiana’s median renter household income, which now ranks dead last in the Midwest.
Two-Thirds of Our State’s Biggest Jobs Don’t Make the Rent
14 of Indiana’s 20 most common occupations pay median wages below the Housing Wage. This means that Hoosiers are working but cannot afford housing. These are trained working professionals, such as:
- Nursing assistants
- Home health and personal care aides
- Child care workers
- Industrial truck and tractor operators
The people who care for our parents, watch our kids, and move our goods. When combined, they make up over 810,610 employed Hoosiers. This means that 76% of those working in the state’s 20 largest occupations and more than a fifth of Indiana’s entire workforce simply do not earn enough to afford stable housing in our state.
The Math at Minimum Wage
For Hoosiers earning Indiana’s $7.25 minimum wage, which has remained unchanged since 2009, affording a two-bedroom apartment requires working 122 hours a week. That’s 17 hours of work a day, seven days a week, for rent alone. According to an article in the Indiana Capital Chronicle, between 2023 and 2025, Indiana’s Housing Wage jumped $6,614 a year, while the average renter’s wage grew just $395.
Work Was Supposed to Be Enough
We tell people that a full-time job is the path to stability. For many Hoosiers in essential work, that promise is broken because the math between wages and rent no longer adds up. Working more than three jobs simply to afford housing is not sustainable. Full-time work should come with the ability to secure safe and stable housing.
Articles in this series:
Sources
NLIHC 2026 Indiana Housing Profile (PDF)
