Amid decades-high inflation, housing costs are getting especially unaffordable for many. This is particularly true in big cities, where anecdotes of bidding wars have become commonplace and average rents of more than $5,000 are becoming the norm.
The causes of increasing rents are complex and related to local government dysfunction, decades of undersupply, and an overheated housing market. But for the solution? Consider the small city, where prices are actually decreasing.
McKinney, Texas—located 30 miles north of Dallas—is one of the cities leading the country in rental price decreases, per Rent.com. With a population of less than 200,000 residents, it has the benefits of a small town while remaining within driving distance of larger metropolitan areas.
In other states, you don’t even have to leave the city to get a bargain on rent. St. Louis follows McKinney with the next largest decrease in rental price on one-bedroom apartments, year over year. With attractions like the Gateway Arch, residents enjoy some of the benefits of a large city while saving money on rent.
These are the top cities finally seeing rental prices decrease in one-bedroom apartments year-over-year, as the housing market cools, according to Rent.com:
- McKinney, Texas: -50.1%
- St. Louis, Mo.: -31.9%
- Norfolk, Va.: -24.2%
- Cleveland, Ohio: -24%
- Anaheim, Calif.: -18.7%
- Pittsburgh, Pa.: -17.8%
- Baltimore, Md.: -17.8%
- Wichita, Kan.: -15.4%
- Houston, Texas: -14.7%
- Las Vegas, Nev.: -12.7%
Unfortunately, some cities are still seeing higher rental prices than last June, including New York City, where the rental prices are as high as the skyscrapers. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York is $5,812, a 41% increase over the last year.
But New York isn’t the only city experiencing soaring rents. Austin leads the nation in the biggest rental increase in one-bedroom rent prices year over year, at 108.2%, per Rent.com.
Here are the cities facing the largest increases in one-bedroom rental prices around the country:
- Austin, Texas: +108.2%
- Jersey City, N.J.: +51.6%
- Tempe, Ariz.: +49.3%
- New York, N.Y.: +41.0%
- Salt Lake City, Utah: +40.5%
- Long Beach, Calif.: +39.6%
- Fremont, Calif.: +38.2%
- Richmond, Va.: +35.7%
- Tacoma, Wash.: +32.8%
- Portland, Ore.: +32.2%
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