A common question among renters is "Where is the most affordable place to rent?"
A new report by Zillow reveals the country’s most affordable rental markets, measuring affordability by the amount of income that renters need to set aside for monthly payments.
“Affordability is a relative concept in housing. Markets that seem affordable because their median rent is on the low side may actually be unaffordable to people who live there,” Zillow writes. “For that reason, we measure affordability by the share of median household income that residents pay for an area’s median rent.”
Interestingly, the company highlights that in the United States, the average renter spends 27.7% of their income on rent. This is alarming as a recent report from CNBC indicates that in housing markets like San Francisco, the median rent exceeds $4,000.
Notably, the majority of Zillow’s top 5 affordable rental markets are inland housing markets, supporting data from Redfin’s Migration report that claims the number of Americans packing up their bags to move to more affordable inland metros is rising.
The video below highlights the top 5 most affordable rental markets, according to Zillow’s research:
5. Kansas City, Missouri. In this metro 23.4% of household income is spent on rent, making the median monthly rent payment $1,292.
4. Raleigh, North Carolina. In this metro 23% of household income is spent on rent, making the median monthly rent payment $1,451.
3. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In this metro 22.4% of household income is spent on rent, making the median monthly rent payment $1,097.
2. St. Louis, Missouri. In this metro 21.5% of household income is spent on rent, making the median monthly rent payment $1,152.
1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this metro 21.4% of household income is spent on rent, making the median monthly rent payment $1,099.
