The average rent for an apartment in Bangor has doubled since the pandemic.
The average monthly cost of a rental unit in Bangor now sits at $1,600, according to data compiled by Zillow. That includes rentals of all sizes and types, whether it’s in an apartment building or a house.
While that’s roughly where median rental rates stood at this time last year, $1,600 is double what it cost to rent an apartment in Bangor before the pandemic.
In 2019 and 2020, the median monthly rent for a unit in Bangor was $820, the Bangor Housing Study, released in February, found.
The study noted that rising prices in Bangor mirror a statewide and nationwide housing crunch driven by high demand with limited housing options. While Bangor, and Maine, need more housing, developers are fighting high construction and labor costs that make building new units and lowering rental prices challenging.
Maine Listings showed 54 units available for rent in Bangor as of Thursday that ranged in price from slightly less than $700 to more than $2,700 per month.
Financial guidance generally recommends a person spends no more than 30 percent of their monthly income on housing costs, such as rent, mortgage or utility payments. This ensures a person has enough money to cover other necessary expenses, such as groceries, student loans or car payments.
With this guidance, someone would need a monthly take home income of at least $5,300 — or nearly $64,000 annually, to comfortably afford a $1,600 rent.
The median annual income for a Bangor resident is $33,344, or $2,778 per month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Someone with that monthly income would be able to comfortably afford an $833 per month rental.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development considers anyone who spends more than 30 percent of their income on housing to be “cost burdened.” If someone spends more than 50 percent of their income on housing expenses, HUD classifies them as “severely cost burdened.”
The Bangor Housing Study found roughly half of all renters in Bangor are housing cost burdened.
