The Most and Least Expensive Areas to Rent Near You

Enter your zip code below to see median rent prices in your city and neighborhood.

 

 

Average rent cost in the United States

The rent is too darn high in some places, whilst rent is fairly reasonable in others. We've compiled median cost of rent data and broken it down by every location in America to pinpoint where exactly rent costs are affordable for you. The average cost of rent in the US is $1,384 as of 2020. On average, renters spend about 30.85% of their income on rent in the United States. In recent years rent has risen quite a bit due to soaring real estate prices, which are very closely correlated with the cost of rent in any location.

Use the search boxes above or the links below to explore average rent costs near you.

What causes high or low rent prices?

The average cost of rent in your area will depend on several factors including but not limited to:

• Real estate prices in location – Home values are the primary driver of rental rates in a location. Landlords will often raise rental rates if the property they're renting increases in value over time.
• Low inventory of available, affordable homes – Often a lack of affordable housing in desirable areas causes rent prices to soar even higher. Affordable housing allows folks to live closer to where they work and live. But higher rent prices due to low supply of affordable homes can be doubly frustrating for some renters.
• High or Low Household incomes  – HHI can drive rent prices in any given place
• Access to amenities – You'll notice higher rent prices in areas with more amenities such as parks, coffee shops and other attractions.
• Land and real estate taxes, fees – Some states have higher taxes and fees for homeowners who then oftentimes pass those costs to the renter.

Other factors that are closely correlated with higher rents include higher education levels. Areas with more high school and bachelor's degrees recipients tend to cost more to rent in. Enter your location or use the links below to zero in on rent prices in your location. While you're there, take a look at some of the other demographic dimensions at the bottom of those pages that may correlate with the price of rent near you.

Which US locations have the highest and lowest rents?

Rent median averages range from as low as $949 per month in a smaller town like Fargo, ND to as high as $2,276 per month in more populated San Francisco, CA. Even at the state level you'll find a huge range of average rent prices from $1,130 in Idaho to $1,931 per month in California. In a major metro area such as Los Angeles, CA (pop. 13,257,235), rent costs about $1,956 per month where as in smaller cities such as Scranton, PA (pop. 77,305), rents are just $917.

 

The average of rent in the above high-rent cities with populations 25,000 or greater) is $3,542 with Princeton, FL (pop. 36,467) taking the #1 spot at $4,279 per month (that's $51,348 per year on rent for our fiscally conscious readers) .

The average rent in the above low-rent cities with populations 25,000 or greater is $712 with Portsmouth, OH (pop. 26,206) as the lowest rent city in America at just $670 per month or $8,040 per year.

 

Explore and compare rent prices by location

Rent prices in the wild may differ slightly from what you'll see on our pages but we believe our maps and data can give you a clear picture of where rents are highest and where they're lower near you. To find the average cost of rent in your city or neighborhood use the search bars above or feel free to browse the states, cities and zip codes below for more household income data:

 

Rent prices by state