U.S. Apartment Renting Costs Mapped

The New Year brings resolutions and new beginnings. If you’re planning on moving to a new city or state this year, you’ll want to be in the know about the highest and lowest apartment renting costs in the U.S. Our map makes it clear which cities have the highest apartment rent and which are the most affordable to settle down in. We also look into the cities that offer two-bedroom apartments for just 15% more than a one-bedroom and which cities you may have to consider putting the desk in the living room as the cost of a two-bedroom is just too steep. This map has got everything you need to make the most informed decision about moving in 2019.

View Median Rent by City in a full screen map

Check out the map above — based on Apartment List’s rental data — for information on specific cities. Then, read on for apartment cost stats and trends across the U.S.

Ten Cities With The Highest Apartment Rent

The top ten most expensive cities to rent a one-bedroom apartment are:

  1. Danville, CA — $4,368
  2. Cupertino, CA — $4,223
  3. Watchung, NJ — $3,971
  4. Melville, NY — $3,965
  5. Los Altos, CA — $3,846
  6. Florham Park, NJ — $3,676
  7. Edgewater, NJ — $3,668
  8. Marina del Rey, CA — $3,624
  9. San Mateo, CA — $3,542
  10. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA — $3,444

As you can see, six of the ten most expensive cities to rent a one-bedroom apartment in are located in California. Danville is where you’ll pay the most in apartment rent, along with Cupertino. Cities in New Jersey and New York join the ranks of Danville and Cupertino with the most expensive one-bedroom apartment rents. New Jersey has three cities in the top ten while only one city in New York — Melville — ranks this high. Even within the top ten, the difference in rent can be nearly as high as 1K. As you go lower down the rankings of the over 1,400 cities we mapped, the difference in rent diminishes.

Settle Down In The Ten Cities With The Most Affordable Apartments

There are some extremely budget-friendly cities where a one-bedroom apartment will save you more than thirteen times the cost of that same apartment in the most expensive city in the U.S. None of these cities of savings are located in any of the three states where rent is most expensive, as per the top ten. The least expensive cities to rent a one-bedroom apartment are:

  • Anniston, AL — $329
  • Hopkinsville, KY — $483
  • Vandalia, OH — $489
  • Kingsport, TN — $493
  • Waterloo, IA — $494
  • Lawton, OK — $498
  • Turtle Creek, PA — $502
  • Fort Smith, AR — $502
  • Jefferson City, MO — $505
  • Pocatello, ID — $515

Largest Discrepancies From Room To Room

You’d think the going rate for a one-bedroom apartment and a two-bedroom apartment would yield similar rankings city by city. However, that’s not actually the case. Let’s take, for example, our top ten most expensive cities to get a one-bedroom apartment in:

  1. Danville, CA
  2. Cupertino, CA
  3. Watchung, NJ
  4. Melville, NY
  5. Los Altos, CA
  6. Florham Park, NJ
  7. Edgewater, NJ
  8. Marina del Rey, CA
  9. San Mateo, CA
  10. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Now let’s see the top ten most expensive cities for two-bedroom apartments:

  1. Danville, CA
  2. Cupertino, CA
  3. Los Altos, CA*
  4. Watchung, NJ*
  5. Melville, NY*
  6. Marina del Rey, CA*
  7. San Mateo, CA*
  8. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA*
  9. Florham Park, NJ*
  10. Edgewater, NJ*

Both Danville and Cupertino, California remain in the same position for one and two-bedroom apartments ranked. But as for the rest of the ten most expensive cities to rent a two-bedroom apartment, while they contain the same names, they’re not quite in the same order as the most expensive one-bedroom cities. For example, California cities move higher up in the ranks for the larger, two-bedroom apartments.

Overall, two-bedroom apartments will cost you 24% more on average than a single bedroom. Some places will give you a good deal on that larger apartment, though. For cities like Daphne, Alabama, Macon, Georgia, and lots of cities in Virginia, the rent of a two-bedroom apartment is only about 15% higher than one-bedrooms. Might as well have an office or guest bedroom! In other cases, such as in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Flint, Michigan, and both Springfield and Eugene, Oregon, you’ll be paying at least 33% more. Are you sure you can’t get by with a single bedroom? The desk can go in the living room.

Rent By State

Photo by Jace Grandinetti on Unsplash

The most expensive cities aside, the states and districts in the U.S. that are most likely to yield you one or two-bedroom apartments at above-average rates are Washington D.C., Hawaii, and California, and not exactly in that order. Washington D.C. is by far the most expensive place to live in the U.S. if you’re searching for a one-bedroom apartment, followed by Hawaii and California. However, for a two-bedroom apartment, Hawaii is the most expensive, then California, followed by Washington D.C.

The least expensive states to rent in? South Dakota, Arkansas, and West Virginia.

Now that you know where to move based on how much rent you are willing to pay each month, it’s time to start hunting in the area you’ve nailed down. Let BatchGeo make the apartment hunting process the easiest and most thorough it can be by making an apartment hunting map.