This City Has the Cheapest Rents in America

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Feb 9, 2:00PM EST

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This City Has the Cheapest Rents in America — © sframephoto / iStock via Getty Images

Home prices in America rose about 20% nationwide last year, compared to 2020. In some cities, the pace was double that. The increase was driven by low mortgage rates and a desire of people to leave large cities with expensive home prices to other places where the median price of a home is lower. The migration also has been made possible by the fact that millions of Americans now work from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (This city has the most expensive houses in America.)

Rents rose rapidly last year too. Though rents rose in the 50 largest metropolitan areas, the city with the cheapest rents in America is Oklahoma City.

The median asking rents for apartments with zero to two bedrooms averaged an increase of 10.1% in 2021. The December increase reported by Realtor.com was much greater at 19.3% compared to the same month of 2020. This pushed the monthly median rent figure across America’s 50 largest cities to $1,781.

To find the 20 cities with the cheapest rents in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Realtor.com’s December Rental Data, which reviews rental data in the 50 largest metropolitan areas.

Rental figures also vary based on the size of the apartment. In December, the median rent of studio apartments was $1,462, up 18.6% ($230) year-over-year. The median was $1,651 for a one-bedroom, up 19.3% ($267), and $2,003 for a two-bedroom, up 19.1% ($320), according to Realtor.com.

In three markets, rents rose over 30% in December from the same month in 2020. These were Miami at 49.8% to $2,850, Tampa at 35.0% to $2,038, and Orlando at 34.1% to $1,807. (This is the city where people cannot afford to rent a place to live.)

The study also showed the median rent by city for December and covered all 50 cities. The lowest figure was Oklahoma City at $949, which was up 15.7%. No other city had a monthly rent figure of less than $1,000.

Click here for the 20 cities with the lowest rents

20. Raleigh, NC
> Median rent: $1,532
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +23.6%

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19. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
> Median rent: $1,527
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +11.0%

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18. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
> Median rent: $1,503
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +18.1%

17. Pittsburgh, PA
> Median rent: $1,500
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +18.5%

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16. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
> Median rent: $1,435
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +20.1%

15. Richmond, VA
> Median rent: $1,419
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +18.2%

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14. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
> Median rent: $1,400
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +12.1%

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13. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
> Median rent: $1,400
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +15.9%

12. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
> Median rent: $1,389
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +15.9%

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11. Cleveland-Elyria, OH
> Median rent: $1,352
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +16.9%

10. Rochester, NY
> Median rent: $1,333
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +11.1%

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9. Memphis, TN-MS-AR
> Median rent: $1,324
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +29.4%

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8. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
> Median rent: $1,306
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +19.4%

7. St. Louis, MO-IL
> Median rent: $1,262
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +9.7%

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6. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
> Median rent: $1,249
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +22.2%

5. Columbus, OH
> Median rent: $1,247
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +14.1%

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4. Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN
> Median rent: $1,226
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +12.0%

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3. Kansas City, MO-KS
> Median rent: $1,225
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +11.2%

2. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
> Median rent: $1,181
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +16.2%

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1. Oklahoma City, OK
> Median rent: $949
> Change from Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021: +15.7%

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.