As Lagos continues to expand, one reality has become impossible to ignore: housing affordability is collapsing across the state, leaving only a handful of locations within reach of low-income earners.

According to the Lagos Residential Market Report 2025 by Statisense, Badagry now stands out as Lagos’ most affordable housing frontier for minimum-wage earners.

The data paints a stark picture. A worker earning the statutory minimum wage of ₦70,000 per month would need nearly 25 years to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Eko Atlantic City.

In Ikoyi and Victoria Island, the same worker would require between 9 and 12 years, assuming they spend absolutely nothing on food, transport, healthcare, or electricity.

In contrast, Badagry requires just five months of total income to afford a one-bedroom apartment—the lowest in Lagos State.

This affordability, however, comes at a cost.

Badagry’s lower rents reflect its distance from Lagos’ commercial core, limited public transport infrastructure, fewer employment clusters, and underdeveloped social amenities. People are not choosing Badagry because it is ideal; they are choosing it because it is the last place they can still afford to live.

Even at five months, rent in Badagry still consumes 42% of a minimum-wage earner’s annual income. That figure excludes agency fees, caution deposits, transport costs, or the daily realities of survival. In real terms, saving enough for rent could take far longer.

Yet this migration toward Badagry also signals opportunity.

With proper investment in transport links, affordable housing schemes, healthcare, education, and local job creation, Badagry could transition from a dormitory town into a self-sustaining economic zone. Without such planning, however, rising demand could quickly erase the affordability that currently defines the area.

Badagry’s status as Lagos’ last affordable frontier should serve as both a warning and a policy opportunity. If affordability disappears here too, the question becomes urgent: where does the minimum-wage worker go next?

Adapted from Statisense – Lagos Residential Market Report 2025