Columbia is a city full of southern hospitality, year-round southern heat, and charming southern scenery. Tree-lined streets and wrap-around porches await you in Columbia. It's a true southern culture, ripe for the pickin' and ready to rent.
Getting Around
Columbia is a city full of southern hospitality, year-round southern heat, and charming southern scenery. Tree-lined streets and wrap-around porches await you in Columbia. It's a true southern culture, ripe for the pickin' and ready to rent.
Getting Around. Like many southern cities, Columbia is no place to be without a car. Bus service runs around downtown, with just a few routes that extend beyond the center of the city. However, traffic will be a breeze in most areas.
Watch Your Water. Columbia is known to have some of the best tasting water in the country. However, many older apartment complexes tend to accumulate extremely high water bills due to the common plumbing problems of older buildings. There are a few things to consider, water-wise, when deciding on your apartment. For instance, does the toilet ever stop running after you flush it? Can you hear any leaks in the faucets, showers, or in the walls? Does the apartment charge its tenants for pool water? All of these factors are likely to result in an uncomfortably high water bill.
Underground Culture. Check out these great spots for entertainment: Art Bar, the Hunter-Gatherer, Alley Cafe, summer concert series at Finlay Park, occasional music on the river, and amazing street bands playing on the corner for change during major festivals and holiday events. You can also visit New Brooklyn Tavern in the neighboring city of West Columbia for hardcore music, or catch bluegrass jams in the nearby city of Cayce.
Spare yourself the hours of research, and use this guide to find the neighborhoods that suit you best. Columbia has affordable, as well as luxurious rentals available all around the city, whether you want to live in the bright lights of downtown, or need some space with wide-open country views and dark star-gazing skies.
University Hill. Surrounded by downtown nightlife.
Congaree Vista. A renaissance on the river: beautiful parks, plenty of food, a growing music scene, and a healthy dose of art and theater, all accompanied by cold beer and cocktails.
Earlewood Park. Riverfront neighborhood of old cottages, neighborhood parks, and downtown skyline views.
Elmwood. Popular for its affordability, downtown proximity, and charming 1920's bungalows.
Cottontown. Historic homes with unique rental options.
Olympia-Grandby. Riverfront rentals and an easy walk to downtown.
Hollywood-Rose Hill. Good eats and a short walk to downtown
Waverly. An affordable and popular neighborhood.
Melrose Heights. Close proximity to downtown.
Old Shandon. Historic homes with bay windows, tons of shopping nearby, plus a quick commute to downtown entertainment.
Shandon. Tree-lined streets, distinctive architecture, and proximity to downtown and nearby shopping.
Rosewood. Complete with vintage atmosphere and uniquely Rosewood personality.
Southeast. Variety of housing options.
Arcadia Lakes. Popular for the nearby lake on a hot summer day, and its golf course.
Dentsville. Truly amazing for the scenery and nearby Sesquicentennial State Park. (Try saying that name three times fast)
Woodfield. Next door to Fort Jackson with everything you could as for in a neighborhood: lakes, a state park, a shopping center.
Forest Acres. Easy commutes to the lake or to downtown.
Spring Valley. A little farther north, complete with country club, enormous state park, tons of eats and shopping.
Greenview. Popular for its easy commute and proximity.
Eau Claire. Comes with a few parks and riverfront bike rides.
The Colony. A slew of beltline bars and plenty of affordable rentals.
Lincolnshire. Variety of different housing options here.
Denny Terrace. More rural, giving you more space.
Northwest
St. Andrews. Different housing options available.
Seven Oaks. A community just down the road from Lake Murray.
Irmo. Amazing location, with Lake Murray and the Harbison State Forest right next door.
That's the city breakdown for you. Now it's time to see it for yourself. Good luck with the hunt, and keep in mind that southern hospitality is a two-way street.
The representation of ethnic minorities in Columbia is higher than the national average. The eight main ethnic groups that make up the population of Columbia are White (45.4%), Black Or African American (41.7%), Hispanic Or Latino (5.1%), Two Or More (3.6%), Asian (3.4%), Other (0.4%), American Indian Or Alaska Native (0.2%), and Native Hawaiian Or Other Pacific Islander (0.1%).
The representation of ethnic minorities in Columbia is higher than the national average. The eight main ethnic groups that make up the population of Columbia are White (45.4%), Black Or African American (41.7%), Hispanic Or Latino (5.1%), Two Or More (3.6%), Asian (3.4%), Other (0.4%), American Indian Or Alaska Native (0.2%), and Native Hawaiian Or Other Pacific Islander (0.1%).
Apartment List has released the results for Columbia from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters nationwide, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of the country’s 111 million renters.
These Columbia neighborhoods are insanely popular right now! Renters are hunting down properties in these places.
Searching for an apartment for rent in Columbia, SC? Look no further! Apartment List will help you find a perfect apartment near you. There are 181 available rental units listed on Apartment List in Columbia. Click on listings to see photos, floorplans, amenities, prices and availability, and much more!
The average rent in Columbia is $1,695 for a studio, $1,575 for a one-bedroom apartment, and $1,580 for a two-bedroom apartment. If you are looking for a deal, keep an eye out for a red pulsing icon that indicates rent specials.
Tired of browsing? Take our personalized quiz. You’ll answer a couple of simple questions and we’ll put together a list of Columbia apartments that are best for you. We’ll also factor in your commute, budget, and preferred amenities. Looking for a pet-friendly rental, or an apartment with in-unit washer and dryer? No problem, we’ll provide you with apartments that match that criteria.
You can trust Apartment List to help you find your next Columbia, SC apartment rental! After all, everyone deserves a home they love.
Welcome to the Apartment List January 2025 Rent Report for Columbia, SC. Currently, the overall median rent in the city stands at $1,175, roughly the same as last month. Prices and are now up 1.0% year-over-year. Read on to learn more about what’s been happening in the Columbia rental market and how it compares to trends throughout the nation as a whole.
The median rent in Columbia rose by 0.0% over the course of December, and has now increased by a total of 1.0% over the past 12 months. Columbia’s rent growth over the past year has has outpaced both state (-0.6%) and national (-0.6%) averages.
Twelve months into the year, rents in Columbia have risen 1.8%. This is a slower rate of growth compared to what the city was experiencing at this point last year: from January to December 2023 rents had increased 3.7%.
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.
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.
Welcome to the Apartment List January 2025 Rent Report for Columbia, SC. Currently, the overall median rent in the city stands at $1,175, roughly the same as last month. Prices and are now up 1.0% year-over-year. Read on to learn more about what’s been happening in the Columbia rental market and how it compares to trends throughout the nation as a whole.
Apartment List has released Columbia’s results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of 111 million American renters nationwide.
"Columbia renters expressed general satisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment List. "However, ratings varied greatly across different categories, indicating that even though renters love Columbia, some aspects can be better."
Key findings in Columbia include the following:
Renters say:
For more information on the survey methodology and findings or to speak to one of our researchers, please contact our team at rentonomics@apartmentlist.com.
Columbia is a city full of southern hospitality, year-round southern heat, and charming southern scenery. Tree-lined streets and wrap-around porches await you in Columbia. It's a true southern culture, ripe for the pickin' and ready to rent.
Getting Around
View Columbia City Guide
