April 2016 National Apartment List Rent Report

Welcome to the April 2016 National Apartment List Rent Report! Nationwide, rents are rising steeply again after a brief decline in median rents. As a reminder, all data comes from the several hundred thousand listings on our site.

National Rental Price Index

Nationwide, average rent prices increased  by 0.4% last month, and have increased by 2.7% between March 2015 and March 2016 overall. The median price for a 2-bedroom apartment in the U.S. is $1,300, while 1-bedrooms average $1,150.

The 10 Cities With the Highest Rents

Cities on the coasts continue to be the nation's most expensive, as the Eastern Seaboard, California, and the Pacific Northwest all make it into the Top 10 Cities with Highest Rents.

• San Francisco: Once again, San Francisco takes a commanding lead as the most expensive city in the nation for 2-bedroom rents, averaging $4,780 for the month of March. Rent prices in San Francisco have grown 0.9% over the past year, significantly less in comparison to the nationwide average of 2.7%.
• Washington, DC: Washington DC is the nation's 4th most expensive city with 2-bedroom units now averaging $2,990. A 1-bedroom in DC averages $2,180, and rents there have increased by 1.6% over the past year.
• Seattle, WA: Seattle comes in 8th for most expensive rents with a median 2-bedroom price of $2,390. Rent prices there have increased 1.0% since last month and 5.4% year-over-year.

Notable cities from the interior that barely missed the cut include Chicago (#12), Denver (#15), and Dallas (#22).  See prices and rent growth for 100 cities in the table below.

The 10 Cities With the Fastest Growing Rents

• Orlando, FL: Orlando had the second largest increase in rents nationwide with a 8.9% increase over last year. A 2-bedroom apartment in Orlando now costs $1,110.
• Salt Lake City: Salt Lake City  placed 7th for largest rent growth nationally in March, showing a 7.2% increase over rents in March 2015. A 2-bedroom in Salt Lake averages $940.
• Austin, TX: Just behind Salt Lake, Austin claims the number 8 spot for fastest growing rents at 6.7% over March 2015. A 2-bedroom in Austin runs $1,500.

Please see below for additional data for the 100 cities, or check out the full data for your city or county at our rental data page. And as always, feel free to contact us with any questions!

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Rent Data

Methodology:

Apartment List Rent Report data is drawn monthly from the millions of listings on our site. 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rents are calculated as the median for the specified size and time period. Price changes are calculated using a “same unit” methodology similar to the Case-Shiller “repeat sales” home prices methodology, taking the average price change for units available across both time periods. For top city rankings, we calculated median 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom rents in 100 top cities and then ranked them by 2-bedroom rents.

About Apartment List Rent Reports:

Apartment List's Rent Reports cover rental pricing data in major cities, their suburbs, and their neighborhoods. We provide valuable leading indicators of rental price trends, highlight data on top cities, and identify the key facts renters should know. As always, our goal is to provide price transparency to America’s 105 million renters to help them make the best possible decisions in choosing a place to call home.  Apartment List publishes Rent Reports during the first calendar week of each month.

About Apartment List:

Apartment List is the fastest-growing apartment rental marketplace in the United States, and is reinventing the rental market on a foundation of trust and transparency. Our Webby-award winning site draws nearly 3 million monthly visits and lists several hundred thousand available rental properties. Headquartered in San Francisco, Apartment List was recently named the #3 fastest growing company in the Bay Area and raised capital from an incredible team of investors led by Matrix Partners.