The median monthly rent for all apartment types in the U.S. has stabilized since 2022, despite some seasonal fluctuations. In August 2025, the monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment amounted to ***** U.S. dollars. That was an increase from ***** U.S. dollars in January 2021, but a decline from the peak value of ***** U.S. dollars in August 2022. Where are the most expensive apartments in the U.S.? Apartment rents vary widely from state to state. To afford a two-bedroom apartment in California, for example, a renter needed to earn an average hourly wage of nearly ** U.S. dollars. This was approximately double the average wage in North Carolina and three times as much as the average wage in Arkansas. In fact, rental costs were considerably higher than the hourly minimum wage in all U.S. states. How did rents change in different states in the U.S.? In 2025, some of the most expensive states to rent an apartment only saw a moderate increase in rental prices. Nevertheless, rents increased in most states as of August 2025. In West Virginia, the annual rental growth was the highest, at ***** percent.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average (CUUR0000SEHA) from Dec 1914 to Sep 2025 about primary, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The average monthly rent of apartments in California increased substantially 2021, followed by a period of stabilization. In May 2024, the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment cost over ***** U.S. dollars, up from ***** U.S. dollars in December 2020 before rents started to rise. Nevertheless, not all cities saw rents rise at the same pace.

The average monthly rent of apartments in Florida increased substantially in 2021, followed by two years of slight decrease. As of ********, the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment in Florida cost ***** U.S. dollars, which was an increase of *** U.S. dollars from ******** when prices started to rise.

In 2024, New York, NY, was the most expensive rental market for one-bedroom apartments in the United States. The median monthly rental rate of an apartment in New York was ***** U.S. dollars, while in San Francisco, CA which ranked second highest, renters paid on average ***** U.S. dollars.

This dataset provides comprehensive information on the average income and rent in various states across the United States for the year 2022. It aims to offer insights into state-level economic trends and housing market dynamics.

Column Descriptions:

Region: Name of the state within the United States.

Average_Rent: Description: Average monthly rent for residential properties in each state, reflecting prevailing rental costs.

Average_Income: Average per capita income within each state, representing the average earnings of individuals residing in the state over the year.

The average asking rent for retail real estate in the United States has increased steadily since 2020. In the first quarter of 2025, the average square footage asking rent reached ***** U.S. dollars, while the average effective rent amounted to ***** U.S. dollars. Nevertheless, rents varied greatly in different regions in the U.S. The Western region of the country had the highest rent for shopping center space.

Displacement risk indicator classifying census tracts according to apartment rent prices in census tracts. We classify apartment rent along two dimensions: The average rents within the census tract for the specified year, balancing between nominal rental price and rental price per square foot.The change in average rent price (again balanced between nominal rent price and price per square foot) from the previous year.Note: Average rent calculations include market-rate and mixed-income multifamily apartment properties with 5 or more rental units in Seattle, excluding special types like student, senior, corporate or military housing. Source: Data from CoStar Group, www.costar.com, prepared by City of Seattle, Office of Planning and Community Development

Context

The purpose of this dataset is to provide updated data on the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). Most of the Zillow datasets on Kaggle have not been updated in four years, and no other dataset except one contains information related to rent. Providing updated data on this will also allow the community to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on rent prices, which could not be done with previous available data sets.

Content

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI): A smoothed measure of the typical observed market rate rent across a given region. ZORI is a repeat-rent index that is weighted to the rental housing stock to ensure representativeness across the entire market, not just those homes currently listed for-rent. The index is dollar-denominated by computing the mean of listed rents that fall into the 40th to 60th percentile range for all homes and apartments in a given region, which is once again weighted to reflect the rental housing stock. Details available in ZORI methodology. https://www.zillow.com/research/methodology-zori-repeat-rent-27092/

This dataset contains two files. The Metro dataset looks at the median rent prices for large US cities. The ZIP code dataset breaks the US cities down by their ZIP codes. Note that the region IDs in both datasets are only used for tracking purposes. Also, some of the ZIP codes under the Region Name are less than the standard five-digit zip code and unreliable. Even if you add zeros in accounting for possible formatting mistakes. It is recommended to remove these entries since there is no way to identify which ZIP code the entry actually represents. These entries are left in here in case some analyst can solve the issue.

Acknowledgements

Zillow provides many useful open source datasets that relate to housing, which can be found at Zillow Research Data. https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ This dataset was also prompted by an older dataset I came across that only lacked updated data. https://www.kaggle.com/zillow/rent-index Thumbnail and banner picture is from this pixabay artist https://pixabay.com/users/pexels-2286921/

Inspiration

1. Where are the cheapest and most expensive ZIP codes to live?
2. We all know rent increases overtime, but has it been increasing at a faster rate since 2014?
3. If rent has been increasing at a faster rate, what year did it increase the fastest?
4. What cities or ZIP codes are increasing rent the fastest and by how much?
5. Did rent continue to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was it at a faster or slower rate than previous years?

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Rent Payments (EC8)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Median rent payment

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Rent payments refer to the cost of leasing an apartment or home and serves as a measure of housing costs for individuals who do not own a home. The data reflect the median monthly rent paid by Bay Area households across apartments and homes of various sizes and various levels of quality. This differs from advertised rents for available apartments, which usually are higher. Note that rent can be presented using nominal or real (inflation-adjusted) dollar values; data are presented inflation-adjusted to reflect changes in household purchasing power over time.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 2 (1970)
Form STF1 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B25058 (2005-2021; median contract rent)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Rent data reflects median rent payments rather than list rents (refer to measure definition above). American Community Survey 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

1970 Census data for median rent payments has been imputed from quintiles using methodology from California Department of Finance as the source data only provided the mean, rather than the median, monthly rent. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rent payments have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

Rents in California's most populous cities briefly decreased in 2020, but swiftly headed for recovery in the following year. In San Jose, the average rent amounted to ***** U.S. dollars in May 2024, higher than the previous peak of ***** U.S. dollars in August 2019. In May 2024, the average monthly rent of a two-bedroom apartment in California was close to ***** U.S. dollars.

Rent Inflation in the United States remained unchanged at 3.60 percent in September. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Rent Inflation.

Revenue for apartment lessors has expanded through the end of 2025. Apartment lessors collect rental income from rental properties, where market forces largely determine their rates. The supply of apartment rentals has grown more slowly than demand, which has elevated rental rates for lessors' benefit. As the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and January 2024, homeownership was pushed beyond the reach of many, resulting in a tighter supply and increased demand for rental properties. Despite three interest rate cuts in 2024, mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high in 2025, encouraging consumers to rent. Revenue has climbed at a CAGR of 2.6% over the past five years and is expected to reach $295.3 billion by the end of 2025. This includes an anticipated 1.4% gain in 2025 alone. The increasing unaffordability of housing is caused by the steady climb of mortgage rates and high prices maintained by a low supply. Supply has been held down as buyers who locked in low rates stay put, and investment groups hold a strategic number of their properties empty as investments. Industry profit has remained elevated because of solid demand for apartment rentals. Through the end of 2030, the apartment rental industry's future performance will be shaped by varying factors. The apartment supply in the US, which hit a record in 2024, is expected to taper off, which will push rental prices and occupancy rates up to the lessors' benefit. Other factors, such as interest rate cuts, decreasing financial barriers to homeownership and a high rate of urbanization, will also significantly impact the industry. With an estimated 80.7% of the US population living in urban areas, demand for apartment rentals will strengthen, although rising rental prices could force potential renters to cheaper suburbs. Demand will continue to outpace supply growth, prompting a climb in revenue. Revenue is expected to swell at a CAGR of 1.7% over the next five years, reaching an estimated $321.9 billion in 2030.

The monthly median asking rent for unfurnished apartments in the United States in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to ***** U.S. dollars. This was an increase of about *** U.S. dollars in just five years. In 2020, the median rent stood at ***** U.S. dollars. The U.S. rental market As rental apartment vacancy rates fall, rents are on the rise. This makes it more difficult for Americans to, first, find an apartment to rent, and second, find an apartment which they can afford. Nevertheless, renting has become much more common in recent years, with the number of renter households having substantially increased in the past two decades. In 2025, there were approximately **** million renter households in the U.S. Rents in different states Of course, rents vary from state to state. The most expensive rents are found in Hawaii, California, District of Colombia, New Jersey, and Florida. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, growth was the strongest in the Sun Belt states, and especially in states with lower costs of living, such as Texas. In Austin, TX, the average rent soared by nearly ** percent in 2021, and remained elevated, despite a slight decline in 2023.

View monthly updates and historical trends for US Consumer Price Index: Rent Of Primary Residence. from United States. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.…

The average monthly rent of apartments in Florida's biggest cities has increased substantially since 2020. In April 2024, the average rent in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida was ***** U.S. dollars, which was an increase of approximately *** U.S. dollars from September 2020.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Residences in U.S. City Average (CUSR0000SEHC) from Jan 1983 to Sep 2025 about rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

In 2025, the average monthly rent affordable to a family of four with a household income at the poverty line was 804 U.S. dollars. However, the average fair market rent for a two-bedroom rental home was 1,749 U.S. dollars per month in that year.

A list of job applications filed for a particular day and associated data. Prior weekly and monthly reports are archived at DOB and are not available on NYC Open Data.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (CBSA) (CUURA320SEHA) from Nov 1977 to Sep 2025 about Miami, primary, rent, FL, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.