The median monthly rent for all apartment types in the U.S. has stabilized since 2022, despite some seasonal fluctuations. In January 2026, 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 Michigan and 2.6 times as much as the average wage in Arkansas, South Dakota, and West Virginia. 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 late 2025, some of the most expensive states to rent an apartment only saw a moderate increase in rental prices. Nevertheless, rents increased in about half of U.S. states as of January 2026. In North Dakota, the annual rental growth was the highest, at almost **** 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 Jan 2026 about primary, rent, urban, consumer, CPI, inflation, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Comprehensive dataset of average rental costs across major US cities, including one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartment prices

The average monthly rent of apartments in California increased substantially in 2021, followed by a period of stabilization. In January 2026, 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.

As of January 2026, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hawaii was about *** U.S. dollars higher than in California. The states of Hawaii and California ranked as the most expensive within the United States for apartment renters. Conversely, an apartment in Arkansas was almost ***** times more affordable than one in Hawaii.January 2026, the average monthly rent in the U.S. declined slightly. Nevertheless, rents increased in more than half of U.S. states, with North Dakota registering the highest growth.

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.

In January 2026, apartment rents recorded an annual growth in about half of U.S. states. The national average rent declined by about **** percent. North Dakota was the state with the largest rental increase at **** percent, while Colorado measured the largest decline at **** percent. California, one of the most expensive states to rent an apartment, saw an increase of about **** percent from the previous year. How much should you earn to afford to rent an apartment in different states in the U.S.? Both employment opportunities and living costs vary widely across the country. In California, which is among the most competitive housing markets in the U.S., the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment rental was roughly ** U.S. dollars, about twice higher than in North Carolina, Louisiana, or Michigan in 2025. When it comes to the median household income, on the other hand, California does not even make it in the top ten states. How much should you earn to afford a home in some of U.S. largest metros? In 2025, the annual salary needed to buy a median-priced home in the U.S. was ******* U.S. dollars. However, in some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, where housing prices are up to two or three times higher, homebuyers would have to earn considerably more than 100,000 U.S. dollars to afford a home. In San Jose, which was the most expensive metro, the annual salary needed for a median-priced home was approximately ******* U.S. dollars.

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

Rent Inflation in the United States remained unchanged at 3 percent in February. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Rent Inflation.

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 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 average monthly rent of apartments in Florida's biggest cities has increased substantially since 2020. In January 2026, the average rent in Miami, Florida was ***** U.S. dollars, which was an increase of approximately *** U.S. dollars from December 2020.

Price to Rent Ratio in the United States increased to 134.04 in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 133.46 in the third quarter of 2024. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States Price to Rent Ratio.

View quarterly updates and historical trends for US Median Asking Rent. from United States. Source: Census Bureau. Track economic data with YCharts analyt…

Apartment rents in two states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. exceeded ***** U.S. dollars in January 2026. 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 South Dakota, where renters paid about *** U.S. dollars for the median new lease. Overall, more than half of the states saw rental rates increase year-on-year.

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?

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 January 2026, 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.

Rents in California's most populous cities briefly decreased in 2020, but swiftly headed for recovery in the following year. In January 2026, all cities either exceeded or ranged at the price level of January 2020. San Francisco saw the highest average apartment rents at ***** U.S. dollars. The average monthly rent of a two-bedroom apartment in California was over ***** dollars.

United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average was 441.86500 Index 1982-84=100 in February of 2026, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in U.S. City Average reached a record high of 441.86500 in February of 2026 and a record low of 84.70000 in January of 1981. 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 Primary Residence in U.S. City Average - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on March of 2026.