The report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition estimates that about half of America's renters cannot afford apartments big enough for their families.

"The current mortgage crisis has awakened everyone to what low-income renters have known for a long time - even modest homes are too costly for most low-income families," said Sheila Crowley, president of the coalition.

The report found that the average national rent is $900, up 7 percent from last year.

It said that it would take a salary of $36,019 - $17.32 an hour - to afford such an apartment.

Lovely Ali, a substitute teacher, knows the anguish of looking for a decent home.

"There was a very difficult period when, after we made sure our children were safe at the home of a friend or a relative, my husband and I would sleep in the car," Ali said.

Ali, her husband, and their seven children were able to find a five-bedroom rental in Hackensack for $2,000 a month but they are still struggling to afford it.

Ali and her husband, a heating and air-conditioning worker, make $45,000 per year combined, about $25,000 less than the report determined they should earn to adequately afford a home in Bergen County, not far from New York City.

Renters account for a third of U.S. households, about 36 million.

The survey found that Hawaii, where workers must earn $29.02 per hour to afford the average apartment, is the nation's most expensive state for renters, followed by California, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

It found the cheapest rents in Puerto Rico, where the required hourly wage is $9.10, followed by North Dakota, West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas.

In New Jersey, the report found, a renter would need to earn $22.25 per hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment, up 5 percent from last year.

Susan Holman-James, president of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, said most Garden State workers earn about $16.45 per hour.