An area’s welfare is often reflected in its housing stock.
In Allen County, almost 40 percent of the homes are rentals with median rent rates of $671 a month.
The median cost of a house in Allen County is $63,300 — meaning half of all homes cost less and the other half cost more.
Compared to our neighbors, we’re on the lower end. Homes in Bourbon, Anderson and Neosho counties on average cost $5,000-$10,000 more. The median price of a home in Woodson County is significantly lower at $46,700.
Officials with the Kansas Statistical Abstract used the median, not the average, rates to give a more accurate picture of costs in their recent report. A $600,000 home can skew the numbers pretty quickly when it comes to taking inventory.
Though our rents and home prices are on the low end, for many workers in Allen County they still are out of reach.
According to the report, the median wage of those who rent is $7.78 an hour; just 53 cents above the minimum wage of $7.25.
At that rate, a worker must clock in 57 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Know very many workers getting overtime these days?
It gets worse the closer you go to a city. In Douglas County, it takes 75 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Surprisingly, the mean wage there is $7.73 an hour. But high demand from 26,000 students at the University of Kansas puts rentals at a premium.
Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant is a tremendous advantage to Coffey County where the mean hourly wage is $13.54. There, it takes about 33 hours of work each week to put a roof over one’s head.
THE AVERAGE INCOME of Kansans is $38,147. We are slightly higher than Oklahoma, $37,246, and Nebraska, $36,638, but lower than Missouri, $40,019, and Colorado, $46,855.
Almost 8 percent of all Kansas workers are paid at or below minimum wage, putting us 15th in the nation. A fulltime minimum wage worker in Kansas working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, will earn $58 per day, $290 per week, and $15,080 per year. As a state, about 40 percent of all workers are at or below 200 percent of the U.S. poverty rate, which is $14,570 per year for a family of two.
ALL THESE numbers illustrate that for a good share of Kansans their paychecks don’t stretch very far. By necessity, most households require dual incomes.
In Allen County, unemployment is 7.6 percent. That’s more than 1,000 idle hands.
Across the United States, more than 20 million people are looking for work.
Be it local or national, creating jobs must be our number-one priority.
The deficit, retirement packages, tax reform — all must take a back seat to being able to provide the basic necessities of life — food and shelter.
— Susan Lynn
