The median rent for one- and two-bedroom apartments in Boston, Massachusetts, amounted to about ***** U.S. dollars by the end of 2023. Rents decreased slightly after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic,this trend reversed in 2021 and as of December 2023, the annual rental growth stood at **** percent. Among the different states in the U.S., Massachusetts ranks as one of the most expensive rental markets.

In 2019, the most expensive zip code in Massachusetts was *****, and renters paid on average ***** U.S. dollars per month for apartments there. This zip code and many of the other high-priced zip codes were located in Boston.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (CBSA) (CUURA103SEHA) from Dec 1914 to Jun 2025 about Boston, ME, NH, CT, primary, MA, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The average monthly asking rent for shopping center space in Boston, Massachusetts, increased between 2020 and 2024. Rents peaked at ***** U.S. dollars per square meter in the 1st quarter of 2024. Hawaii, San Francisco, and San Jose were the markets with the highest average shopping center rent in the U.S.

Explore Boston, MA rental market 2025. The average long-term prices $3,342 and short-term $4,567, with trends shaping housing in a city of 663,972 residents.

In District of Columbia, the average rent per square foot was **** 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.

The Back Bay district was the most expensive real estate market for office space in Boston in the third quarter of 2024. On average, the average asking rent was about ** U.S. dollars per square foot of office space. Downtown Boston, the market with the largest inventory of office space among Boston districts, had the second highest rent, at about ** U.S. dollars. The gross rental rate usually includes costs for utilities and other general maintenance expenses.

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.

In 2025, households in California needed an hourly wage of over 50 U.S. dollars to afford the rent of a two-bedroom apartment. Hawaii had the second-least affordable two-bedroom apartments, as a household would have to earn at least around 49 U.S. dollars per hour in order to afford rent payments. These figures are considerably higher than the average minimum wage in place in many states. There was no state in which a minimum wageworker could afford rent for the average two-bedroom apartment, if they worked 40 hours a week. Where are the least affordable counties and metros? The least affordable rents were predominately in Californian counties and metropolitan areas in 2025. District of Columbia has the highest minimum wages in the country, which stood at 17.5 U.S. dollars per hour as of January 2025. Thus, the affordability of two-bedroom apartments highlights how disproportionately high housing costs are in the state.