Market Data 
- Rent edged lower in September, continuing a long streak of year-over-year declines.
- Southern cities saw some of the largest dips in rent.
- Here are 24 real-estate markets where rent is at least 10% below the national median.
Apartment dwellers scored a small but much-needed win on the affordability front in September.
Median rent in the 50 largest US metropolitan areas dipped to $1,743 last month, according to an October 16 report from Realtor.com. That was $10 less than in August and $17 under the record peak from the August before, when inflation was coming off of multi-decade highs.
Asking prices were lower year-over-year for the 14th straight month, though they were only a few dollars cheaper than in September 2023. Apartments cost less across unit sizes, as studios slid by $34 to $1,442 per month, while one- and two-bedroom setups were both $8 more affordable at $1,623 and $1,930, respectively.
Renting is much more expensive now than it was before the pandemic, as the typical unit’s price has risen by $286, or nearly 20%, since 2019. However, Realtor.com economic researchers Jiayi Xu and Danielle Hale pointed out that the same is true of most other goods and services.
“This increase is roughly on par with what has occurred in overall consumer prices (up 22.7% in the 5 years ending September 2024) and pales in comparison to the 50.8% increase in median price-per-square-foot of for-sale home listings in the 5 years ending September 2024,” Xu and Hale wrote in their note.
The two continued: “Further, the relative steadiness in rents should translate into slower shelter inflation in the months ahead, alleviating one of the biggest recent drivers of rising prices.”
Although rent is down across major US cities, improvements in affordability are far from uniform.
Eight of the 10 real-estate markets with the largest year-over-year drops in rent last month were in the South, led by Nashville’s 4.8% drop. Dallas and Denver also each tumbled 4% from 2023.
“While the labor market in the South in areas such as Austin (3.7%) and Birmingham (3.1%) continues to outperform the top-50 average, with much lower unemployment, the rapid growth in new multi-family homes is putting downward pressure on rental prices and cooling the market,” Xu and Hale wrote.
Conversely, eight of the 10 metro areas in the Midwest that made Realtor.com’s list had higher rent than last September. Chicago and Detroit were the only cities in that region where rent fell. Xu and Hale estimate that a combination of lower starting prices and healthy labor markets likely underpinned that move.
24 cities with cheap rent
Renters hunting for a deal are in luck. Business Insider reviewed Realtor.com’s list of the 50 biggest US cities and narrowed it down to the two dozen cities where rent was at least 10% less than the national median of $1,743 last month.
Below are those 24 major US cities, along with each location’s median rent in September, the year-over-year and month-over-month changes, and the savings versus the national median rate.
