From a strict supply/demand question, there are vastly more people in the country that might want a 1bd in SF than there are 1bd apartments. If not by price, how else are you going to allocate them?
That doesn't imply that "everyone should be entitled to whatever they want" in the negative way you're thinking of.
It's not a booming economy but they have the same minimum wage jobs that they have everywhere else. If you are content with that (and I say this without judgement - many people get their life's meaning outside of work) then there are plenty of places in the US where you can have a comfortable life. Just not expensive cities.
In DC, I might pay $2500 to live in a decent 1BR in a hip part of the downtown area.
Or I could pay $1500 to live 40 miles away with a 90 minute commute and $5 in tolls, each way, in some new developer community.
There is no $1k 1BR apartment anywhere in the metro, unless I'm sharing a room off Craigslist or living with illegals or college kids in a house share.
For a late 30s, single professional with a decent salary in the US, not only is it kind of depressing that buying a home is nearly impossible nowadays in the same cities where a our parents easily afforded it with similar jobs but also a few kids, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to even assume my own private tiny apartment.
$1260 will get you a 1br in downtown Atlanta.[1]
In Midtown, which is much nicer, a 1br will run you $1400-1600.[2] From personal experience, there are also some not-so-nice parts of Midtown where you can rent a whole 2br house for that much.
If you're willing to drive a bit you can get a 1br for around $900.[3] It takes 12-28 minutes to get from here to downtown in rush hour traffic.
1. https://www.apartments.com/post-centennial-park-atlanta-ga/c...
2. https://www.apartments.com/broadstone-midtown-atlanta-ga/7mt...
3. https://www.apartments.com/ashford-druid-hills-atlanta-ga/m1...
And this is Atlanta, which for the last 10 years has been one of those 'cheaper' cities that millennials have been told to move to because the coasts are too expensive.
I make over 6 figures and could easily afford a 1 BR, but like I said, it's kind of depressing that a professional in his late 30's who supposedly makes in the top 90% of salaries is now considering a $1500 tiny apartment in a 'cheap city' to be obtainable.
What about those making the average of $50K?
Now, I haven't checked all 567 listings, personally, but I have to assume at least one of them isn't a listing for a room with "illegals or college kids", or any other group you find objectionable as roommates.
https://www.apartments.com/min-1-bedrooms-under-1200/?sk=dc6...
Suddenly, we are talking about hip part of the downtown for people earning close to minimal wage?
What is wrong with this apartment for $925[0] 975? [1]
[0] https://www.apartments.com/park-southern-apartments-washingt...
[1] https://www.apartments.com/delwin-apartments-washington-dc/s...
It is literally the worst area of DC.
That's an entirely different question, and I don't know the answer to it. I do know $18/hr isn't enough to pay for that in NY though. It would be great if wages would go up or rent, become cheaper so it could happen.
More generally, I see nothing wrong in a single person, with no children, needing to share a house for a few years until they establish themselves financially. There are many people with far higher pay than $18/hr who live with roommates, or parents, until they have enough saved up to buy and move out. I've done it myself. And I think historically speaking (I could be wrong about this), people have always lived with family or rented a room (even shared a room) until they got married - Western society has only changed in that regard in the past 50-60 years.