Chatham Among Area's Most Expensive Towns For Renters: Study

CHATHAM, NJ — How affordable is it to rent a home near Chatham?

Not very affordable, according to a new analysis by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The coalition recently released its annual "Out Of Reach" report for 2020, and it shows that you'd have to earn about $42.69 an hour to afford to rent a two-bedroom home in the Chatham area.

The report ranks ZIP codes by the hourly wage a person would need to earn to afford renting without spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

Here are the area towns that are among the priciest for renters:

• Chatham, $42.69
• Morris Plains, $42.69
• Morristown, $37.31
• Parsippany, $33.78
• Long Valley, $42.69
• Mendham, $42.69
• Chester, $32.69
• Madison, $38.08

Across New Jersey, renters earn $19.10 per hour on average, while $29.69 per hour is needed to afford to rent a two-bedroom home. The state has about 36 percent of the population listed as renters.

Residents in the Garden State would have to work 88 hours per week at the minimum wage of $11 to afford even a one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent, the report says.

New Jersey is ranked seventh in the nation in terms of affordability for renters. The most expensive state for housing is Hawaii, followed by California, then Massachusetts.

This post contains reporting by Kara Seymour.

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