Inventory
info icon
Single family homes on the market. Updated weekly.Powered by Altos Research
722,032+456
30-yr Fixed Rate30-yr Fixed
info icon
30-Yr. Fixed Conforming. Updated hourly during market hours.
7.00%0.01
Multifamily

RENTcafé: 83% of renters can’t afford to live where they want

Sky-high prices in job nodes make a hellacious commute nearly universal for renters

A RENTcafé survey of more than 2,000 renters found that less than 17% lived close to their desired location, meaning that 83% of renters have to go the extra mile(s) to get where they’re going.

The top-rated reason for this is, you guessed it, the rent is too damn high.

According to RENTcafé, apartments in desirable areas (aka job centers) cost $1,655 per month, a 37% increase over the national average rent of $1,211 in regular or low-rated locations.

These numbers vary by metro, and while it is easy to point to the coasts as the greatest propagators of high rents, the issue of affordability has crept into the Midwest as well.

Chicago’s split between the average apartment and the desirable apartment is an average of $925 per month. That’s a deep dish slice of just about any wallet.

In St. Louis, the split is $537 per month more for the desirable apartment, and in Memphis renters can pay an extra $350 to ascend from average to desirable.

According to the survey, 60% of respondents said they are not able to pay more than they already are, or at most, they could pay an extra $100 per month. This means the majority of renters cannot rent apartments close to where they work or play. Even in Memphis, which is one of the more affordable housing markets in the nation, the desirable apartments are an average of more than three times the maximum rent that respondents said they could afford.

Bring on the hellacious commutes.

Most Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Lower mortgage rates attracting more homebuyers 

An often misguided premise I see on social media is that lower mortgage rates are doing nothing for housing demand. That’s ok — very few people are looking at the data without an agenda. However, the point of this tracker is to show you evidence that lower rates have already changed housing data. So, let’s […]

3d rendering of a row of luxury townhouses along a street

Log In

Forgot Password?

Don't have an account? Please