House & Home - Most Expensive and Most Affordable Metro Areas for Renters

Where are rent prices still sky-high despite the recent slowdown in rent hikes? With rent increases beginning to stabilize due to a surge in newly available apartments, Lawn Love ranked 2024’s Most Expensive Metro Areas for Renters. We compared 196 of the biggest U.S. metros based on three categories. We looked at average rent prices, year-over-year rent changes, and the share of renters spending over 30% of their income on rent and utilities, among 9 total metrics. See the 10 most expensive (and 10 most affordable) metro areas for renters, followed by key stats from our report.

Most Expensive Metro Areas for Renters Most Affordable Metro Areas for Renters Rank Metro Rank Metro 1 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL 1 Rock Springs, WY 2 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 2 Sioux Falls, SD 3 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 3 Ogden-Clearfield, UT 4 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 4 Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR 5 Urban Honolulu, HI 5 Racine, WI 6 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA 6 Provo-Orem, UT 7 Bloomington, IN 7 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC 8 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 8 St. Cloud, MN 9 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA 9 Huntsville, AL 10 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL 10 Wichita, KS Key insights: Economic powerhouses like Miami, New York, and Los Angeles landed at the top of the rankings with some of the highest rent prices. These metros share high living costs and significant portions of cost-burdened renters. They are also vulnerable to market dynamics such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that can drive up rental prices by flipping foreclosed homes into high-priced rentals.  Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, (No. 1) stands out with the highest rental costs for one- and two-bedroom rentals, and a significant 62.6% of renters are cost-burdened, spending nearly 32% of their income on rent. In stark contrast, Rock Springs, WY, (No. 196) offers the lowest one-bedroom rental prices, while Sioux Falls, SD, (No. 195) boasts the lowest two-bedroom rental prices and one of the lowest percentages of cost-burdened renters.  With fewer than 500,000 residents, smaller metros like Norwich, CT (No. 69), Lansing, MI, (No. 101), Sierra Vista, AZ, (No. 83), and Greenville, NC, (No. 41) have seen significant increases in rent prices over the past year, experiencing hikes of over 7%.  North and South Carolina became popular moving destinations in 2023, with Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC, (No. 66) taking the crown for the second year in a row. Despite this influx, metros like Asheville, NC, (No. 36), Raleigh-Cary, NC, (No. 179), Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC, (No. 136), and Greenville-Anderson, SC (No. 122) have experienced modest changes in rent prices, with Myrtle Beach, SC, experiencing a nearly 3.5% decrease in rent prices since last year.   Helpful links: See where your city ranks Full study article Expert insights Methodology   More from Lawn Love: 2024’s Most Expensive Metro Areas for Lawn Maintenance Best Cities for Tackling Home Improvements Is Lawn Care Tax Deductible for Rental Properties? Best Cities for Grilling Meat Worst Cities for Grass Allergies This Summer