New minimum wage falls short of rent in over half of Istanbul's districts

Duvar English

In 22 out of 39 districts of Istanbul, renting a standard house has become impossible with the 2025 minimum wage of 22,104 Turkish liras.

The fact-checking platform Doğruluk Payı compiled the average rents for every district in Istanbul, excluding the Prince Islands, and stated that the new minimum wage, which will be received by millions of workers at the end of January 2025, would not be sufficient to cover the cost of housing in most of the central districts.

According to a report published by the Istanbul Planning Agency (İPA), the monthly budget required for a family of four to meet their basic needs in Istanbul reached 75,717 liras in November.

Even in districts where rent was affordable on the European side, renting a house with the minimum wage would still consume a significant portion of income. For instance, in Esenyurt, 70% of the minimum wage needed to be spent on rent, in Bağcılar, it's 94%, and in Çatalca, it's 90%.

In Sarıyer district, renting an apartment required 2.69 times the minimum wage, while in Beşiktaş, it took 2.32 times the minimum wage. These two districts are among the most central in the megacity and also house many university students.

The situation is even more dire on the Anatolian side, where the minimum wage was only sufficient for rent in two districts. In Sancaktepe, 97% of the minimum wage goes to rent, and in Sultanbeyli, it consumes 89%.

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