The best cities to rent an apartment for $1,500 a month

RentCafe senior analyst Doug Ressler joins Wealth! to break down some of the cities across the US with the most square footage for $1,500 rent.

Ressler explains that, on average, renters nationwide can expect about 729 square feet for $1,500 a month. The cities with the largest apartments by square footage are Wichita, Kansas; Toledo, Ohio; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He explains that the American Midwest is so affordable because of increasing supply as tech hubs pop up and companies re-shore. Ressler also explains that there is more land available and that rental prices in the region relate more to the amenities provided by developers.

The rift between affordable renting and homebuying grows wider after a Zillow report found $1 million starter homes to be a new norm in over 200 cities across the US.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

Now, housing related inflation remaining one of the biggest contributors to services inflation in today’s PC report rising 0.3%.

And we know renting can be expensive.

So here to discuss where you can get the most bang for your buck across the US.

We got Dores Rent Cafe, senior analyst, Doug.

It’s great to speak with you here.

So talk to me about some of the best cities that you found where you can get rent as, as low as $1500 a month, which uh not show my bias here.

But that does sound very low coming from someone who rents in New York City.

Thanks uh thanks for having me.

$1500 a month was chosen out of a nationwide average uh for apartments.

So yes, you’re right.

Uh What we found is we were doing a comparison, Ren Cafe did the article Yardie matrix data.

We’re part of Yardie systems.

And basically what we found is that on the average runners can expect again, this is a national number about 729 square feet nationwide for that amount of money.

Where do you get the biggest square footage?

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Wichita, Kansas Toledo, Ohio, Oklahoma City, Midwest.

Now, why is that?

Because the Midwest has gone for many years because of undersupply it’s getting new supply.

Now.

There are tech hubs, there are foreign companies that are reloading, their reshoring is going on.

The availability of land is a little bit freer in terms of density like you have with gateway cities.

And so what you’re seeing is that price relates in terms of what developers can do for amenity rich type of development with larger apartments.

In addition, we also see that millennials are running longer, which means that they are starting families and need more square footage.

And so with that square footage um like for example, Wichita Kansas 1359 square feet.

Now the starter home average starter home nationwide is about 1400 square feet.

So it pretty much approximates it.