Residential rental market in the United States - statistics & facts
The appeal of rental homes lies in their higher affordability and flexibility compared to homeownership. In the short term, renting is less expensive than buying a house, as it does not require a down payment. This makes it the go-to option among younger adults at the beginning of their careers or people with lower incomes.
How affordable is renting exactly?
Renting is most common in dense urban areas with competitive real estate markets. Finding an affordable apartment can be especially challenging in these places, where the average apartment rent is consistently higher than the national average. In California, notorious for its high property prices and housing shortage, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment cost more than 800 U.S. dollars above the national average in January 2025. Hawaii, New Jersey, and Massachusetts were other states with high rents. While these states offer rich opportunities and higher average wages, this can fall short of covering the rent needed for a two-bedroom apartment. In Massachusetts, for example, renters would have to hold 1.6 full-time jobs on mean wage or three full-time jobs on minimum wage to afford such an apartment.The future of the U.S. rental market
While demand persists and investors’ outlook is optimistic, rental growth has slowed from the levels observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While nationally, the average rent declined slightly in January 2025, most states continued to see rental prices rise by up to seven percent. In 2024, the markets with the most demand for rental properties included Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX, New York, NY, and Austin, TX. These markets saw the net number of occupied multifamily units increase by over 20,000, showing high demand for rental homes.The U.S. rental market is poised to grow as homebuying remains unattainable for the average American. While the days of double-digit annual increases in rental rates have ended for now, growth in metros with housing shortages is expected to continue.