The National Low Income Housing Coalition, in its annual "Out of Reach" report, found that the average U.S. employee must make nearly three times the federal minimum wage, or about $14.66 an hour, to afford a modest two-bedroom rental and still pay for food and other basic needs.

California was ranked the least-affordable state, with workers having to earn $19.69 per hour to pay for an average apartment, the study found.

Hawai'i ranked seventh least-affordable, according to the study, at $16.74.

"Even as the homeownership rate rises, access to good, affordable rental housing diminishes," the report said. About one-third of the nation's households are renters, said the Washington-based advocacy group.

In the four years since the coalition began its study, the gap between wages and rents has widened, both during times of economic expansion and recession. The coalition favors increased federal spending on affordable housing and raising the minimum wage to address the issue.

Last year, about 2.2 million workers earned the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour or less, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Although some states, including California and Hawai'i, have higher state minimum wages, they still fall far short of covering an average rent. Hawaii's minimum wage rose from $5.25 to $5.75 an hour in January, and is scheduled to increase another 50 cents, to $6.25, on Jan. 1, 2003.

The coalition's study is based on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's determinations of "fair market rent" in states, counties and metropolitan areas. Each jurisdiction's "housing wage" was then established by calculating how much a person would need to earn per hour to pay no more than 30 percent of income for those rents.

HUD considers housing affordable when it costs 30 percent or less of gross income.

The report found that 37 states had housing wages greater than twice the minimum wage; in nine states, the housing wage was three times the minimum wage.

The two-bedroom housing wages in the study ranged from $37.30 in Marin County, Calif., to $7.11 in parts of Alabama, and $5.94 in portions of Puerto Rico. The report pointed out, however, that low housing wages don't always mean affordable housing. In Puerto Rico, for example, the $5.94 housing wage is greater than the median hourly wage.

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National Low Income Housing Coalition's report: