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.

Amsterdam is set to maintain its position as Europe's most expensive city for apartment rentals in 2025, with median costs reaching 2,500 euros per month for a furnished unit. This figure is double the rent in Prague and significantly higher than other major European capitals like Paris, Berlin, and Madrid. The stark difference in rental costs across European cities reflects broader economic trends, housing policies, and the complex interplay between supply and demand in urban centers. Factors driving rental costs across Europe The disparity in rental prices across European cities can be attributed to various factors. In countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, a higher proportion of the population lives in rental housing. This trend contributes to increased demand and potentially higher living costs in these nations. Conversely, many Eastern and Southern European countries have homeownership rates exceeding 90 percent, which may help keep rental prices lower in those regions. Housing affordability and market dynamics The relationship between housing prices and rental rates varies significantly across Europe. As of 2024, countries like Turkey, Iceland, Portugal, and Hungary had the highest house price to rent ratio indices. This indicates a widening gap between property values and rental costs since 2015. The affordability of homeownership versus renting differs greatly among European nations, with some countries experiencing rapid increases in property values that outpace rental growth. These market dynamics influence rental costs and contribute to the diverse rental landscape observed across European cities.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR List Rents (EC9)

FULL MEASURE NAME List Rents

LAST UPDATED October 2016

DESCRIPTION List rent refers to the advertised rents for available rental housing and serves as a measure of housing costs for new households moving into a neighborhood, city, county or region.

DATA SOURCE real Answers (1994 – 2015) no link

Zillow Metro Median Listing Price All Homes (2010-2016) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) List rents data reflects median rent prices advertised for available apartments rather than median rent payments; more information is available in the indicator definition above. Regional and local geographies rely on data collected by real Answers, a research organization and database publisher specializing in the multifamily housing market. real Answers focuses on collecting longitudinal data for individual rental properties through quarterly surveys. For the Bay Area, their database is comprised of properties with 40 to 3,000+ housing units. Median list prices most likely have an upward bias due to the exclusion of smaller properties. The bias may be most extreme in geographies where large rental properties represent a small portion of the overall rental market. A map of the individual properties surveyed is included in the Local Focus section.

Individual properties surveyed provided lower- and upper-bound ranges for the various types of housing available (studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, etc.). Median lower- and upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the regional and county geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the average of the median lower- and upper-bound prices for the region and counties. Median upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the city geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the median upper-bound price for cities. For simplicity, only the mean list rent is displayed for the individual properties. The metro areas geography rely upon Zillow data, which is the median price for rentals listed through www.zillow.com during the month. Like the real Answers data, Zillow's median list prices most likely have an upward bias since small properties are underrepresented in Zillow's listings. The metro area data for the Bay Area cannot be compared to the regional Bay Area data. Due to afore mentioned data limitations, this data is suitable for analyzing the change in list rents over time but not necessarily comparisons of absolute list rents. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Due to the limited number of rental properties surveyed, city-level data is unavailable for Atherton, Belvedere, Brisbane, Calistoga, Clayton, Cloverdale, Cotati, Fairfax, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Moranga, Oakley, Orinda, Portola Valley, Rio Vista, Ross, San Anselmo, San Carlos, Saratoga, Sebastopol, Windsor, Woodside, and Yountville.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rents have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index 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. Percent change in inflation-adjusted median is calculated with respect to the median price from the fourth quarter or December of the base year.

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

Displacement risk indicator classifying census tracts according to apartment rent prices in census tracts. We classify apartment rent along two dimensions:The median rents within the census tract for the specified year, balancing between nominal rental price and rental price per square foot.The change in median rent price (again balanced between nominal rent price and price per square foot) from the previous year.Note: Median 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

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.

This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (247 items: Carbonear; Newfoundland and Labrador; Corner Brook; Newfoundland and Labrador; Grand Falls-Windsor; Newfoundland and Labrador; Gander; Newfoundland and Labrador ...), Type of structure (4 items: Apartment structures of three units and over; Apartment structures of six units and over; Row and apartment structures of three units and over; Row structures of three units and over ...), Type of unit (4 items: Two bedroom units; Three bedroom units; One bedroom units; Bachelor units ...).

The median monthly apartment rental rate for a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco Bay Area was the highest in Mountain View as of May 2023, at nearly ***** U.S. dollars. The median monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment in Vallejo, on the other hand, was aproximately ***** U.S. dollars per month.

Average rent per month in cities by type of dwelling

Dataset from Housing & Development Board. For more information, visit https://data.gov.sg/datasets/d_23000a00c52996c55106084ed0339566/view

In 2023, the average price per square meter for rental apartments in France was the highest in Paris. In the French capital, the average price per square meter for rental flats reached almost ** euros, compared to ** euros in the second-largest French city, Marseille. Not only is Paris the most expensive city in France for renting an accommodation, it is also one of the most expensive in Europe.
Paris housing crisis The Paris region is the most populated area of France. It is also the most densely populated region of the country. In a very centralized country like France, the capital appears to be the center of the majority of economic and cultural activities, as well as the home of an important number of universities. Finding accommodation is becoming more and more difficult in a city which also attracts millions of tourists every year. The average cost of an apartment in Paris amounted to more than 10,000 euros per square meter, compared to nearly ***** euros per square meter in the French second-largest agglomeration: Lyon. The consequences of high prices in housing In Paris, renting a two-bedroom apartment costed more than ***** US dollars in 2018, making the city one of the most expensive worldwide. To cope with this price boom, residents of the Paris metropolitan area often live in one of the many suburbs of the city. Furthermore, the pollution of the French capital, as well as its traffic jams and congested public transports, often lead Parisians to change their lives and move elsewhere after a few years. In 2015, Bordeaux was named most attractive city to live in France. Paris was only ranked eighth.

Renting an apartment in Cambridge cost on average ***** British pounds per month in July 2025. This made it one of the most expensive cities for renters in the UK after London. In London region, the average rent amounted to ***** British pounds. According to the source, this figure shows the asking rent, adjusted for achieved rents. A comparison of the rent prices of different London boroughs shows that costs may vary by several hundred and even over a thousand British pounds. Looking at the regional prices, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Northeast emerged as the regions with the most affordable rents.

Average asking rent price in select Census Metropolitan Areas by rental unit type. The breakdown by number of bedrooms is provided only for apartments. The results are based on an experimental approach, meaning they are derived from recent methodologies and may be subject to revisions. Quarterly data are available starting from the first quarter of 2019.

In 2023, the average price per square meter for rental apartments in France was the highest in Paris. In the French capital, the average price per square meter for rental flats reached almost 31 euros, compared to 16 euros in the second-largest French city, Marseille. Not only is Paris the most expensive city in France for renting an accommodation, it is also one of the most expensive in Europe.
Paris housing crisis The Paris region is the most populated area of France. It is also the most densely populated region of the country. In a very centralized country like France, the capital appears to be the center of the majority of economic and cultural activities, as well as the home of an important number of universities. Finding accommodation is becoming more and more difficult in a city which also attracts millions of tourists every year. The average cost of an apartment in Paris amounted to more than 10,000 euros per square meter, compared to nearly 3,900 euros per square meter in the French second-largest agglomeration: Lyon. The consequences of high prices in housing In Paris, renting a two-bedroom apartment costed more than 2,000 US dollars in 2018, making the city one of the most expensive worldwide. To cope with this price boom, residents of the Paris metropolitan area often live in one of the many suburbs of the city. Furthermore, the pollution of the French capital, as well as its traffic jams and congested public transports, often lead Parisians to change their lives and move elsewhere after a few years. In 2015, Bordeaux was named most attractive city to live in France. Paris was only ranked eighth.

Renting an apartment in Cambridge cost on average 1,600 British pounds per month in July 2025. This made it one of the most expensive cities for renters in the UK after London. In London region, the average rent amounted to 2,192 British pounds. According to the source, this figure shows the asking rent, adjusted for achieved rents. A comparison of the rent prices of different London boroughs shows that costs may vary by several hundred and even over a thousand British pounds. Looking at the regional prices, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Northeast emerged as the regions with the most affordable rents.

Rents in Germany continued to increase in all seven major cities in 2024. The average rent per square meter in Munich was approximately **** euros — the highest in the country. Conversely, Düsseldorf had the most affordable rent, at approximately **** euros per square meter. But how does renting compare to buying? According to the house price to rent ratio, house prices in Germany have risen faster than rents, making renting more affordable than buying. Affordability of housing in Germany In 2023, Germany was among the European countries with a relatively high house price to income ratio in Europe. The indicator compares the affordability of housing across OECD countries and is calculated as the nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 chosen as a base year. Between 2012 and 2022, property prices in the country rose much faster than income, with the house price to income index peaking at *** index points at the beginning of 2022. Slower house price growth in the following years has led to the index declining, as incomes catch up. Nevertheless, homebuyers in 2024 faced significantly higher mortgage interest rates, contributing to a higher final cost. How much does buying a property in Germany cost? Just as with renting, Munich was the most expensive city for newly built apartments. In 2024, the cost per square meter in Munich was almost ***** euros pricier than in the runner-up city, Frankfurt. Detached and semi-detached houses are usually more expensive. The price gap between Munich and the second most expensive city, Stuttgart, was nearly ***** euros per square meter.

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.

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.

Residential rental rates by municipality, year, and type of unit (bachelor suites, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units) in non-subsidized rental buildings that have three or more rental units.

In the first quarter of 2025, Amsterdam was the most expensive city to rent a furnished private room among the 27 European cities surveyed. It was also among the top ranking most expensive cities to rent a furnished one-bedroom flat and studio apartment. One of the main factors driving high rents across European cities is the same as any other consumer-driven business. If demand outweighs supply, prices will inflate. The drive for high paid professionals to be located centrally in prime locations, mixed with the low levels of available space, high land, and construction costs, all keep rental prices increasing.