Quicker version of the math: Few people work 5 days or 40 hours every week of the year (for minimum wage earners, it's typically much messier than that, but as

Quicker version of the math: Few people work 5 days or 40 hours every week of the year (for minimum wage earners, it's typically much messier than that, but as long as we're playing the "minimum wage earners reliably work 40 hours a week" game, we might as well play the "minimum wage earners get a few holidays and sick days" one too). So wage * 2000 is an easy and effective approximation of annual income. Rent should be no more than 30% of monthly income, which is the same as 1/40 of annual income (which is how rental brokers quickly calculate how much salary earners can afford). 1/40 annual income = 1/40 * wage * 2000 = wage * 2000/40 = wage * 50. So you shouldn't be putting more than 50 hours' worth of work into housing every month.