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.

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 May 2025 about primary, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

In District of Columbia, the average rent per square foot was 2.95 U.S. dollars in 2018, whereas renters in Oregon were expected to pay half as much in rent per square foot. DC was the most expensive state for renters, followed by New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California.

Why is DC so expensive?

District of Columbia is the center of the U.S. political system with all three branches of federal government sitting there: Congress (legislative), President (executive) and the Supreme Court (judicial). The above average household incomes of its residents mean that high rents are still sustainable for the rental market.

Limited space in DC

DC has the largest share of apartment dwellers in the country. This is most likely due to limited space, as the federal district has a much higher population density than the states. The political importance of DC and the high population density suggest that the federal district is likely to retain its spot as the most expensive rental market in the future.

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 2,828 U.S. dollars in May 2024, higher than the previous peak of 2,739 U.S. dollars in August 2019. In May 2024, the average monthly rent of a two-bedroom apartment in California was close to 2,208 U.S. dollars.

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.

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 1,895 U.S. dollars, which was an increase of approximately 400 U.S. dollars from September 2020.

Renting the typical one-bedroom apartment exceeded 2,500 U.S. dollars in three of United States' cities with population greater than 150,000 people in 2024. In May that year, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sunnyvale, California was 2,798 U.S. dollars.

Rent Inflation in the United States decreased to 3.90 percent in May from 4 percent in April of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Rent Inflation.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average (CUSR0000SAS2RS) from Jan 1990 to May 2025 about shelter, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The average monthly rent for all apartment types in the U.S. soared in 2021 and 2022, followed by a slight decline in the next two years. In April 2025, the monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment amounting 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, which 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 2024, 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 April 2025. In West Virginia, the annual rental growth was the highest, at ***** percent.

Price to Rent Ratio in the United States increased to 134.20 in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 133.60 in the third quarter of 2024. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Price to Rent Ratio.

This statistic shows the average rent in high-end apartments in selected cities in the United States in 2018. The average monthly rent for a luxury apartment in Los Angeles, the second largest city in the U.S., was 3,028 U.S. dollars in 2018.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average (CUUR0000SEHC01) from Dec 1982 to May 2025 about primary, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Residences in U.S. City Average was 426.56800 Index Dec 1982=100 in May of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Residences in U.S. City Average reached a record high of 426.56800 in May of 2025 and a record low of 100.60000 in January of 1983. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Residences in U.S. City Average - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average was 431.66800 Index Dec 1982=100 in April of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average reached a record high of 431.66800 in April of 2025 and a record low of 141.70000 in January of 1990. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Services Less Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average (CUUS0000SASL2RS) from H1 1984 to H2 2024 about shelter, rent, urban, consumer, services, CPI, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Apartment rents in two states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. exceeded ***** U.S. dollars in April 2025. In Hawaii, the median rent was about ***** U.S. dollars, nearly *** U.S. dollars higher than the national average. At the other end of the spectrum was Nebraska, where renters paid about ***** U.S. dollars for the median new lease. Overall, most states saw rental rates increase year-on-year.

This dataset contains information about the percent of income households spend on rent in cities in San Mateo County. This data is for renters only, not those who live in owner-occupied homes with or without a mortgage. This data was extracted from the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2014 5 year estimates.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average (CUUS0000SEHC01) from H1 1984 to H2 2024 about primary, rent, residents, urban, consumer, CPI, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Information on median gross rents