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 from Jan 1981 to May 2025 about primary, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

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

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 ***** U.S. dollars in 2018.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average (CUUR0000SAS2RS) from Dec 1982 to May 2025 about shelter, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Among the largest cities in the United States, renting an apartment was most affordable in Wichita, KS, in 2024. On average, renters in Wichita could rent an ***** square foot apartment for ***** U.S. dollars. The average apartment rent varies widely across different metros and states, with Hawaii, California, and Washington D.C. fetching the most expensive rents.

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

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.

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 July 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.

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.

Panama City, Mexico City, and Guadalajara had the highest average apartment rents in 2022 among the selected Latin American cities. To calculate the average rent, the source only considered mid-income areas. To rent an apartment in Panama City, renters would have to pay on average 900 U.S. dollars.

Cities in the United States dominate the list of cities with the highest rents worldwide. New York was ranked as the most expensive city to rent in, ahead of San Francisco, with an index score of ***. Boston followed in third.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Owners' Equivalent Rent of Residences in U.S. City Average (CUUS0000SEHC) from H1 1984 to H2 2024 about rent, residents, urban, consumer, CPI, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Services Less Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average (CUSR0000SASL2RS) from Jan 1985 to May 2025 about shelter, rent, urban, consumer, services, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average was 422.78400 Index Dec 1982=100 in July of 2024, 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 422.78400 in July of 2024 and a record low of 106.20000 in January of 1984. 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.

United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Services Less Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average was 429.98900 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: Services Less Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average reached a record high of 429.98900 in May of 2025 and a record low of 111.30000 in January of 1985. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Services Less Rent of Shelter in U.S. City Average - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Consumer Price Index for All Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers: Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average (CWUR0000SEHA) from Dec 1914 to May 2025 about clerical workers, primary, rent, urban, wages, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.