REPORT: April 2024 Rent Trends

On Monday, May 6, we published our monthly National Rent Report, highlighting national rent trend data as well as rent price data by state and by city. To create this report, we analyze rent trends in 100 major U.S. cities.

Click here to read the full report.

Overview

In this month’s report, we explained a few key trends:

1. It’s officially spring, which means we are entering peak renting season. This means that rent is going up month-over-month, a trend expected to continue throughout the summer months.
2. Renting in the Southeast is cheaper this year than it was last year, despite the region’s popularity.
3. At the state level, the Midwest saw more month-over-month increase than any other region.

National Trends

While rent trends differ from region to region, here’s what you need to know about rent prices on a national level:

Rent prices are heating up in accordance with renting season.

• The national median price of a one-bedroom apartment (now $1,511) increased by 1.6% from March to April.
• Rent prices are up across all apartment sizes, with studios seeing the biggest month-over-month increase of 2.1% — up to $1,575 a month.
• Forty-nine cities showed month-over-month increases in three out of four apartment sizes that we look at (studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom apartments).

In many cities, rent is still getting cheaper — despite seasonal surges.

• Across the country, rent is cheaper this year than it was last year. Over half the cities that we looked at had year-over-year rent drops for one-bedroom apartments.

Regional Trends

In this month’s report, we dove deep into trends occurring in a few specific regions:

The South

• Thirty-three out of 60 cities that had year-over-year rent drops were in the South. Twenty of those cities were in the Southeast, one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.
• In seven Southeastern cities (Raleigh, NC,?Huntsville, AL,?Birmingham, AL,?Greensboro, NC,?Atlanta, GA,?Nashville, TN, and?Orlando, FL), rent is over 12% cheaper this year than it was last year.

To interact with this visualization and others, view the full National Rent Report.

The Midwest

• The Midwest, one of the most affordable regions in the country, is seeing rent increases more and more often. Nine states in the Midwest saw month-over-month increases and 10 saw year-over-year increases for one-bedroom apartments in April.
• Wisconsin had the biggest month-over-month one-bedroom rent increase in the Midwest at 5.1%. Illinois followed with the second highest increase at 2.4%.

The Bottom Line

Peak renting season lasts from roughly April to August, which has historically led prices to increase starting in April. This year is no different — with the median rent prices for one-bedroom apartments increasing across the nation, on a city and state level. However, renters can feel a little relief even during this busy time: in most places, rent is cheaper this year than it was in April 2023. To learn more about rent trends in your city and to see our methodology, read our full monthly rent report here.