OPINION: Where Americans keep more of their year

The affordability crisis is usually framed through percentages, indexes, and inflation charts. But for most workers, the more useful question is simpler: how much of your life do basic expenses actually take?

An 18-year analysis by InvestorsObserver, based on wage and living-cost data from 2007 to 2025 across all 50 U.S. states, tries to answer exactly that. Instead of measuring affordability in abstract dollar terms, it looks at time, specifically, how many eight-hour workdays a person needs each year to cover three basic costs: rent for a one-bedroom apartment, groceries, and saving for a used car.

That timeframe matters. It starts with the last full year before the Great Recession and runs through the post-pandemic economy, which makes it possible to see not just where affordability stands now, but how much ground workers have lost or managed to hold over nearly two decades.

The picture is pretty clear. In most of the country, workers now have to give up more days of labor each year just to cover the same essentials. But some states have held up better than others, and the states at the top of the ranking are not the ones most associated with big salaries or economic glamour.

Eight of the 10 most affordable states are in the Midwest. That alone says something about the current map of American life: high-wage coastal economies may offer bigger paychecks, but they often take back more of that money through housing and everyday costs. In the most affordable state, Minnesota, workers need 53 workdays a year to cover rent, groceries, and used-car savings. That comes out to about 4.4 workdays a month, the lowest figure in the country.

Minnesota reaches that position through a combination that has become increasingly rare: strong hourly wages and housing costs that, while not cheap, have not fully detached from earnings. Workers there make $38.25 an hour on average, while monthly rent averages $862. Since 2007, the number of workdays needed to cover the basics has risen by 7.9 days, which is still a meaningful increase. But wage growth of 61.8%, from $23.6 to $38.3 an hour, has softened some of that pressure. Annual essentials in the state add up to $16,218, including $10,344 in rent, $3,881 in groceries, and $1,993 set aside for a used car.

Illinois comes next at 55.8 workdays. The state pairs $35 hourly wages with average monthly rent of $814. Since 2007, wages there rose 54.7%, from $22.6 to $35 an hour, while rent increased 73.2%, from $470 to $814. Workers now need 8.8 more workdays than they did in 2007. Even so, Illinois remains one of the few places where a large metropolitan economy has not completely broken affordability for middle-income earners. Total annual costs come to around $16,149.

Nebraska follows at 56.3 workdays, helped by some of the lowest rents in the top 10 at $741 a month and hourly wages of $32.8. What stands out there is stability. Workers need only 5.5 more days than they did in 2007, one of the smallest increases in the country. Wages rose 64.5% and rent climbed 70%, a gap that is still there, but narrower than in many other states. Annual basic costs total around $15,599.

Missouri is close behind at 56.4 workdays, and it stands out on rent in particular. It is the most affordable state for renters in the ranking, with people working only 33.7 days a year to pay rent. That rests on an average monthly rent of $730 and hourly wages of $32.45. Since 2007, workers there need 6.6 extra workdays a year to cover the same baseline costs. Wages increased 64%, while rent rose 74.6%. Total annual costs come to around $15,553. For workers looking for city life without the most punishing housing costs, Missouri’s balance of wages and rent still matters.

North Dakota ranks fifth at 56.5 workdays. On paper, it looks like a place where housing pressure should have done much more damage: rent has increased 93.5% since 2007. But wage growth of 86.4%, the second-highest in the country, has kept the state from sliding much further. Workers there earn $34.2 an hour, average rent is $798 a month, and the increase in workdays needed since 2007 is just 3.2 days, the second-smallest rise nationally. Total annual costs are around $15,569.

Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington round out the top 10. Wisconsin workers need 57.9 workdays a year, Kansas 58.3, Ohio 58.5, South Dakota 58.7, and Washington 59.1. The first four fit the broader Midwestern pattern: moderate rents, steady wage growth, and housing markets that have not entirely run away from local incomes. Washington is the exception. It makes the top 10 not because it is cheap, but because wages are so high that they still offset high living costs. Workers there earn $41.8 an hour, the highest in the ranking, but average monthly rent reaches $1,157 and total annual costs climb to $20,837. It still qualifies, though with the highest total workday burden among the top 10 and the largest increase since 2007 at 11.8 days.

That contrast points to the bigger argument inside the data. The states where workers are doing best are not necessarily the states where conditions improved the most over time. In Idaho and Arkansas, workers actually need fewer workdays in 2025 than they did in 2007. Idaho workers gained back 4.8 days, and Arkansas workers reclaimed 3.8. On relative change alone, that looks like a success.

But absolute affordability tells a different story. Idaho workers still need 61.6 days a year to cover the same essentials, and Arkansas workers need 60.4. That is higher than in states like North Dakota or Wisconsin, where current costs are lower even if the long-term trend is not quite as favorable. A state can improve against its own past and still remain less affordable in practical terms.

The same pattern shows up at the expensive end. Hawaii and Rhode Island look relatively stable over time, adding just 1.5 and 1.2 extra workdays since 2007. But Hawaii workers still need 86.6 days a year to cover annual basics, and Rhode Island workers need 76.4. Stability matters, but not enough to erase a high starting point.

That is why only three states manage what the report treats as the real double win: South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin appear both among the states with the fewest total workdays needed today and among those with the smallest increases since 2007. South Dakota workers need 58.7 days and lost virtually no ground over the period, with just a 0.2-day increase. North Dakota requires 56.5 days with only a 1.5-day increase. Wisconsin comes in at 57.9 days despite a relatively modest rise of 3.8 days.

“The data challenges the narrative that workers need to chase coastal salaries to get ahead. What matters isn’t how much you earn – it’s how much of your life you get to keep,” said Sam Bourgi, senior analyst at InvestorsObserver.

The methodology is built around publicly available government and industry data. Hourly earnings for 2007 come from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, while 2025 wages are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data from March 2025. Rent figures rely on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair market rents for one-bedroom units across more than 2,000 U.S. regions. Used-car figures come from the Department of Energy for 2007 and Black Book for 2025. Grocery costs are based on a fixed basket of 12 staples that cost $43 in 2007 according to The Pig Site, then adjusted for 74% inflation through FRED CPI to reach $75 in 2025.

The report also factors in the average age of vehicles in the U.S., using 9.2 years for 2007 from R. L. Polk & Co. and 12.8 years for 2025 from S&P Global. That matters because the annual savings target for a used car is spread across the expected replacement cycle, not treated as a one-time lump sum.

What the numbers show, taken together, is fairly straightforward. The places where pay goes furthest are mostly not the loudest or richest-looking parts of the country. They are states where wages have stayed close enough to rent and daily costs to preserve some breathing room. And in 2025, that breathing room is concentrated less on the coasts than in a broad Midwestern corridor, with a few strategic exceptions.

For workers trying to figure out where a paycheck still buys more than survival, that distinction matters more than ever. In the best-performing states, the question is not whether life is cheap. It is whether the basics still leave room for a life outside work. In much of the country, that margin has thinned. In a handful of states, it has not disappeared yet.

tags: United States, InvestorsObserver, wages, rent, affordability, cost of living, Midwest, inflation, labor market, housing