According to Dwellsy’s March data report, apartment rent has slipped slightly downward. But in some expensive cities, renting even a one-bedroom place will cost you plenty.
Los Altos, CA (April 2023)—If escalating gas prices, food prices, and interest rates are squelching your spring joy, Jonas Bordo, CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy, has some good news: At least your apartment rent is holding steady.
If you back up and look at the year-over-year change for one-bedroom apartments, you’ll see that median asking rent has decreased 0.1 percent—which is (wait for it!) $1.00—since March of 2022. From February to March it decreased by 0.5 percent, or $7.00. (Hey, he never said you were getting rich—but every little bit helps, right?)
“The good news for cash-strapped renters is that these decreases are part of a longer-lived trend,” says Bordo, coauthor along with Hannah Hildebolt of Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster (Matt Holt, August 2023, ISBN: 978-1-6377439-2-8, $21.95).
“Given the inflation our country has experienced in the past few years, this may come as a surprise, but since January 2021, rent for one-bedroom apartments has declined by 3 percent.
“Before you assume that your decision to live in an apartment will save you money, know that a lot depends on your zip code. Despite nationwide trends, some markets have seen surges in apartment rent—and others are known for being just plain expensive.”
Having data on which cities cost apartment-dwellers the most is important for anyone who is relocating, or who just wants to know how their city fits into the broader rental market.
“If you’re just browsing rental listings in various cities, it can be nearly impossible to pick out developing trends and plan for the future,” Bordo says. “It’s also tough to determine which prices are fair, especially since median asking rent can fluctuate month-to-month.”
Dwellsy, the largest home rental listing platform in the country, regularly mines its 13+ million residential rental listings for statistics and data. Because Dwellsy allows landlords to post listings free of charge, it has a pool of data that’s more diverse-and more representative of the true rental landscape-than that of pay-to-play listing services.
Each month, Dwellsy breaks down this data regionally across the U.S. so renters and landlords can see up-to-date trends in rental housing and current affordability in over 250 U.S. markets. For a more detailed look at Dwellsy’s rent price analysis methodology, see this article.
When compiling this list of most expensive cities for apartment-dwellers, Bordo has focused on one-bedroom units because they are similar to two-bedroom apartments in terms of inventory, but are more price-accessible.
Top Ten Most Expensive Large Cities for One-Bedroom Apartment Rentals
First, the dubiously “good” news: No city on the list experienced year-over-year rent growth above 6.8 percent. In this economy that’s not too bad, right? Maybe not, but when you’re paying over $1,700 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, those percentage points add (way) up.
“New Yorkers are used to paying a premium for apartments, which is a good thing since a 5.2 percent rent increase landed them in the top spot (and not for the first time),” says Bordo. “But California has a claim to fame, too—five cities on the list are in the Golden State. San Diego actually saw a 5 percent decrease in year-over-year rent—but it’s still number seven!”
This table shows which large cities had the most expensive March 2023 asking rent for one-bedroom apartments.
|
Rank |
Metropolitan Statistical Area |
Median One-Bedroom Apartment Asking Rent, |
Change Since March 2022 |
|
1 |
New York, NY |
$ 2,999 |
+ 5.2% |
|
2 |
Boston, MA |
$ 2,500 |
+ 2.5% |
|
3 |
San Francisco, CA |
$ 2,495 |
+ 4.2% |
|
4 |
San Jose, CA |
$ 2,365 |
+ 6.8% |
|
5 |
Washington, DC |
$ 2,050 |
-0.7% |
|
6 |
Los Angeles, CA |
$ 2,040 |
0.0% |
|
7 |
San Diego, CA |
$ 1,990 |
– 5.0% |
|
8 |
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA |
$ 1,831 |
+ 2.5% |
|
9 |
Honolulu, HI |
$ 1,750 |
+ 6.1% |
|
10 |
Seattle, WA |
$ 1,726 |
+ 1.8% |
Top Ten Most Expensive Small Cities for One-Bedroom Apartment Rentals
Here, California has dominated the field once again—five of the nation’s most expensive small cities for one-bedroom apartments represent the West Coast. The Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta metro area has nabbed first place, with monthly rent costing $2,173 per month.
“To me, though, the real standout here is Ithaca, New York,” says Bordo. “Ithaca is known for its beautiful natural surroundings, including lakes and waterfalls. But with a 50.8 percent year-over-year rent increase, I hope its apartments have a lot to offer, too!”
Ithaca is one of several East Coast cities giving California a run for its rental money. The only inland outlier is tenth-place Bozeman, Montana.
This table shows which small cities had the most expensive March 2023 asking rent for one-bedroom apartments.
|
Rank |
Metropolitan Statistical Area |
Median One-Bedroom Apartment March 2023 Asking Rent |
Change Since March 2022 |
|
1 |
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA |
$ 2,173 |
+ 3.5% |
|
2 |
Ithaca, NY |
$ 1,995 |
+ 50.8% |
|
3 |
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA |
$ 1,900 |
+ 2.7% |
|
4 |
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT |
$ 1,898 |
+ 5.4% |
|
5 |
Salinas, CA |
$ 1,875 |
+ 7.1% |
|
6 |
Vallejo-Fairfield, CA |
$ 1,850 |
– 0.6% |
|
7 |
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA |
$ 1,815 |
+ 10.0% |
|
8 |
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY |
$ 1,788 |
+ 19.2% |
|
9 |
Burlington-South Burlington, VT |
$ 1,750 |
+ 29.6% |
|
10 |
Bozeman, MT |
$ 1,695 |
– 0.3% |
“With new apartments continuing to enter the market, supply-and-demand will stay tipped in renters’ favor,” concludes Bordo. “Inflation—not to mention a possible recession—will also help keep prices flat. So go ahead and sign the lease for that new apartment you’ve been eyeing—just make sure to leave some extra wiggle room in your budget for eggs and gas.”
About Jonas Bordo:
Jonas Bordo is the coauthor, along with Hannah Hildebolt, of the upcoming book Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster. He is the CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy, the free residential rental marketplace that makes it easy to find hard-to-find rentals.
About the Book:
Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster (Matt Holt, August 2023, ISBN: 978-1-6377439-2-8, $21.95) is available for pre-order from major online booksellers.
About Dwellsy:
Dwellsy is the renter’s marketplace: a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free ecosystem creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services.
