15 Cities With the Highest Rents

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Construction Coverage.

While inflation in most sectors of the economy has improved over the last year, the cost of shelter in the U.S. continues to remain high for many consumers. Increasing rent prices have been a major reason why.

However, the impact of rent increases has not been felt evenly across the U.S., as renters in some locations face much higher costs than in others.

The most expensive states are, unsurprisingly, also home to some of the nation’s most expensive metropolitan areas for renters.

The following is a breakdown of the cities with the highest rental prices.

The analysis was conducted by researchers at Construction Coverage using data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more information on how the statistics were computed, refer to the methodology section.

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

• Median rent: $3,451
• Median studio rent: $2,588
• Median 1-br rent: $2,926
• Median 2-br rent: $3,411
• Median 3-br rent: $4,378
• Median 4-br rent: $4,836

2. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

• Median rent: $3,175
• Median studio rent: $2,248
• Median 1-br rent: $2,452
• Median 2-br rent: $3,089
• Median 3-br rent: $4,165
• Median 4-br rent: $5,057

3. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA

• Median rent: $3,141
• Median studio rent: $2,244
• Median 1-br rent: $2,685
• Median 2-br rent: $3,232
• Median 3-br rent: $4,070
• Median 4-br rent: $4,636

4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

• Median rent: $2,777
• Median studio rent: $2,051
• Median 1-br rent: $2,278
• Median 2-br rent: $2,840
• Median 3-br rent: $3,694
• Median 4-br rent: $4,157

5. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

• Median rent: $2,740
• Median studio rent: $2,139
• Median 1-br rent: $2,308
• Median 2-br rent: $2,792
• Median 3-br rent: $3,395
• Median 4-br rent: $3,749

6. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

• Median rent: $2,692
• Median studio rent: $2,157
• Median 1-br rent: $2,246
• Median 2-br rent: $2,648
• Median 3-br rent: $3,553
• Median 4-br rent: $4,127

7. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

• Median rent: $2,589
• Median studio rent: $2,087
• Median 1-br rent: $2,274
• Median 2-br rent: $2,628
• Median 3-br rent: $3,306
• Median 4-br rent: $3,639

8. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL

• Median rent: $2,450
• Median studio rent: $1,753
• Median 1-br rent: $1,963
• Median 2-br rent: $2,412
• Median 3-br rent: $3,213
• Median 4-br rent: $3,865

9. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

• Median rent: $2,441
• Median studio rent: $1,663
• Median 1-br rent: $1,766
• Median 2-br rent: $2,203
• Median 3-br rent: $2,967
• Median 4-br rent: $3,621

10. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA

• Median rent: $2,415
• Median studio rent: $1,661
• Median 1-br rent: $1,782
• Median 2-br rent: $2,228
• Median 3-br rent: $3,097
• Median 4-br rent: $3,571

11. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

• Median rent: $2,373
• Median studio rent: $1,792
• Median 1-br rent: $1,984
• Median 2-br rent: $2,379
• Median 3-br rent: $3,107
• Median 4-br rent: $3,486

12. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

• Median rent: $2,245
• Median studio rent: $1,732
• Median 1-br rent: $1,864
• Median 2-br rent: $2,124
• Median 3-br rent: $2,947
• Median 4-br rent: $3,415

13. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

• Median rent: $2,212
• Median studio rent: $1,875
• Median 1-br rent: $1,908
• Median 2-br rent: $2,168
• Median 3-br rent: $2,700
• Median 4-br rent: $3,202

14. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ

• Median rent: $2,198
• Median studio rent: $1,577
• Median 1-br rent: $1,728
• Median 2-br rent: $2,028
• Median 3-br rent: $2,746
• Median 4-br rent: $3,122

15. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL

• Median rent: $2,181
• Median studio rent: $1,687
• Median 1-br rent: $1,774
• Median 2-br rent: $2,011
• Median 3-br rent: $2,558
• Median 4-br rent: $3,086

Methodology

The data used in this study is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2024 50th Percentile Rent Estimates dataset and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.

To determine the locations with the highest rent prices, researchers at Construction Coverage calculated a median monthly rent estimate across all rental types in each location.

This estimate was calculated as a weighted average of each location’s median monthly rent price across each rental size category (i.e. studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, etc.).

The weights used in the calculation were the number of renter-occupied housing units belonging to each size category as reported by the Census Bureau in 2022. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater one-bedroom rent was ranked above.

Only locations with populations of 100,000 or more and data available from all sources were included.