What income do you need to rent comfortably in Detroit?

While Detroit remains affordable compared to other large cities, the gap between the cost of housing and income is still wide. Personal finance tech company SmartAsset just released a new report on how much income residents should make in large cities to rent a two-bedroom apartment comfortably.

SmartAsset

In Detroit, the income is $48,643. According to Census data, the median income in Detroit is $26,249.

The study looks at average rent prices for a two-bedroom apartment (from RentCafe). Then, it estimates how much someone needs to make in order to only spend 28 percent of their income on rent.

Per this study, Detroiters spend 38 percent on rent, making it harder to save for a down payment to buy a house. Rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Detroit is coming in at $1,135 per month.

Of course, rent prices are often determined by where you live. We recently featured a map that shows great variance in Detroit rental prices (for a one-bedroom apartment) by neighborhood. The downtown core has the highest prices, while outlying neighborhoods offer more affordable rental options.

Still, the city has a lot of work to do in order to increase the median income and decrease the percentage residents pay for housing.