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.
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