Cambridge Rent Report: March 2025
Welcome to the Apartment List March 2025 Rent Report for Cambridge, MA. Currently, the overall median rent in the city stands at $2,904, after rising 0.8% last month. Prices and are now up 1.8% year-over-year. Read on to learn more about what’s been happening in the Cambridge rental market and how it compares to trends throughout the broader Boston metro area and the nation as a whole.
Cambridge rents are up 0.8% month-over-month and up 1.8% year-over-year
The median rent in Cambridge rose by 0.8% over the course of February, and has now increased by a total of 1.8% over the past 12 months. Cambridge’s rent growth over the past year has is similar to the state average (1.9%) and has outpaced the national average (-0.4%).
Cambridge rent growth in 2025 pacing above last year
Two months into the year, rents in Cambridge have risen 0.8%. This is a faster rate of growth compared to what the city was experiencing at this point last year: from January to February 2024 rents had increased 0.2%.
Cambridge rents are 35.1% higher than the metro-wide median
If we expand our view to the wider Boston metro area, the median rent is $2,150 meaning that the median price in Cambridge ($2,904) is 35.1% greater than the price across the metro as a whole. Metro-wide annual rent growth stands at 1.9%, above the rate of rent growth within just the city.
The table below shows the latest rent stats for 15 cities in the Boston metro area that are included in our database. Among them, Cambridge is currently the most expensive, with a median rent of $2,904. Derry is the metro’s most affordable city, with a median rent of $1,603. The metro's fastest annual rent growth is occurring in Peabody (5.0%) while the slowest is in Malden (-1.0%).
You can also use the map below to explore the latest rent trends in the Boston metropolitan area.
Methodology
Apartment List is committed to the accuracy and transparency of our rent estimates. We begin with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, capturing apartment transactions over time to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country. Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. For more details, please see the Apartment List Rent Estimate Methodology.
Data Access
Apartment List publishes monthly rent reports and underlying data for hundreds of cities across the nation, as well as data aggregated for counties, metros, and states. These data are intended to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions. Insights from our data are covered regularly by journalists across the country. To access the data yourself, please visit our Data Downloads Page.
