To take home four times the typical rent here, a full-time job needs to pay at least $32.99 an hour before taxes, about $68,619 a year.
Rent is HUD's studio Fair Market Rent for St. Louis, MO-IL HUD Metro FMR Area.
Under the Four Times Rent standard, a full-time job in Sullivan part, Missouri needs to pay at least $32.99 an hour before taxes, about $68,619 a year. That leaves $4,256 a month after taxes, four times the typical $1,064 rent on a studio apartment.
The minimum wage here is $15.00 an hour (Missouri minimum wage). The standard is 2.2 times that. A full-time minimum-wage job takes home about $2,228 a month, 52% of the standard.
Take the typical monthly cost of a studio apartment, multiply by four, and divide by 160 hours of work a month. That's the take-home pay needed per hour. The pay before taxes is what it takes to keep that much after federal and state income taxes and Social Security and Medicare.
The idea behind the standard is laid out in Chapter 1: The Living Wage Revolution.