New research shows that every single postcode in Birmingham requires you to earn over the minimum wage to live comfortably.

In many parts of the city, you will need to be earning over double the minimum wage to be able to rent and not struggle to get by.

This is based on statistics by homelessness charity Shelter, which suggests that tenants should be paying no more than 35% of their full time wages on rent.

Even in Castle Vale, the cheapest area in Birmingham in terms of rent, you would still need to earn £8.72 an hour to ‘live comfortably’, according to data from Web-Blinds .

Cheaper areas such as Erdington, Chelmsley Wood and Small Heath also tell the same story - with hourly earnings needed to live here all exceeding the minimum wage of £7.20.

How much you need to earn in each area

The most expensive area is Selly Oak which requires earnings of £22.02 an hour to live comfortably - although, this figure may be skewed slightly due to the amount of student properties in this area, as they often have 6 plus tenants in one house, pushing up average rents figures.

City centre areas are also costly, with earnings of £21.12 and £19.37 an hour needed to live in the postcodes of B1 and B2.

16 postcodes in Birmingham require you to earn double the minimum wage and be able to afford rent there.

Despite these grim statistics, Birmingham is actually only the 645th most expensive of 1303 places in the UK for rent.

If you want to feel slightly better about prices in Birmingham, then looking at how much you need to earn in London will do the job - for instance, areas across Central London would require you to earn over a £100 an hour just to afford rent there.

If you want to see how much you need to earn to live in your area, then use Web-Blinds Earnings Vs Postcode tool here.