How Much Income You Need to Rent an Apartment in 15 Major Cities

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Finding affordable housing in a time of rising inflation and high interest rates is a challenge for many Americans. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is up 9.2% in October from a year ago, according to Zumper, a site that matches renters with properties.

These price hikes may be prompting renters to seek out a new place, perhaps in a cheaper city. New research from SmartAsset highlights what it actually means to be able to afford an apartment in a major city.

Renters across the country can expect to pay more than $1,800 on average for a two-bedroom apartment, SmartAsset reports. If this comes out to more than 30% of their pretax income, the household is considered to be housing cost-burdened, it said, citing recommendations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Using HUD’s guidelines, SmartAsset researchers examined how much income a renter would need in the 25 biggest U.S. cities to afford a one- or two-bedroom apartment based on a rent-to-income ratio of 28% — just below the HUD standard.

They then ranked the cities, from least to most expensive, by the two-bedroom figure. Average rents for the two types of apartments came from Zumper, spanning October 2021 through September 2022.

See the gallery for the 15 major U.S. cities with the highest average monthly rental costs, according to SmartAsset.