Apartment rents continue to rise across the country. How much? A new study from Zumper says that the median one-bedroom apartment rent in the United States hit an all-time high in March.
According to that study, the median one-bedroom monthly rent hit $1,400 this month. That’s as high as this figure has ever been, according to Zumper. It also represents an increase of 2.5% for the year, ahead of the 1.9% growth in apartment rents at this time last year.
Renters in the Midwest, though, have a bit of a reprieve. No Midwest city — not even Chicago — showed up in its list of the most expensive cities in which to rent in March. That list was topped, in no surprise, by New York City, where the median one-bedroom monthly rent is $3,260. San Francisco came in second at $2,910, while Boston rounded out the top three at $2,660.
Increased demand for apartment units is surely fueling at least some of this increase in monthly rents. In November of last year, Zumper surveyed renters and found that 81.6% said they planned on moving in 2022.
At the same time, there aren’t enough multifamily units available to meet this demand, a sure formula for rising rents.
The $1,400 median one-bedroom rent in March is a jump of 12.2% from the same month one year earlier. It’s the 11th time in the last 12 months that one-bedroom rents have hit an all-time high.
The median price for a two-bedroom apartment unit is up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis, hitting $1,723. This marks the 14th consecutive month in which two-bedroom units have hit an all-time high.
Renters looking for a bargain can find one in at least one major Midwest city. Zumper said that the median one-bedroom rent in Cincinnati actually took a fall this March, slipping to $870.
The most expensive Midwest city in which to rent is Chicago, where the median one-bedroom monthly rent is $1,600 and the median two-bedroom rent is $1,900. But Chicago ranks as only the 23rd most expensive metro area in which to rent this March.
The next most expensive Midwest market is Cleveland, where monthly one-bedroom median rents are $1,240. Then comes Minneapolis, where the median one-bedroom rent was $1,200 in March.
