Renters can still get a spacious apartment for $1,500 a month in these 10 cities
Analysis by research firm RentCafe shows that your dollar can still get you a sizable apartment in plenty of places in the US — if you move away from the coasts.
"The Midwest and the Southeast have been undersupplied for a long time," Doug Ressler, an analyst at Yardi Matrix, told Business Insider.
RentCafe looked at the top 200 US cities based on population and ranked each city by how much square footage a renter could get in a multifamily property with a monthly budget of $1,500.
Unsurprisingly, coastal cities like New York, Boston, and San Francisco rank low in square footage on that budget, with average apartment sizes under 400 square feet for all three cities at that price.
On the flip side, cities in the middle of the country and a handful in Texas offer spacious apartments on a reasonable budget. But cities down South are losing their edge as the most affordable part of the country.
"Affordability is getting eaten up with insurance costs, construction costs, and labor costs," Ressler said. "So what you see is that the affordability gap is narrowing."
Here are the 10 cities where your dollar will stretch further as a renter, according to RentCafe.
9. El Paso, TX Searches per week on Zillow: 136,010Median home value in March 2023: $303,383Percentage year-over-year change in median home value: 8.2%City of El Paso population: 676,395Resident review: Among El Paso's fans is one that wrote on Niche "I love this city so much because of the diversity. El Paso has a very diverse culture. I also feel El Paso is a very safe city compared to others of its size."
8. Baton Rouge, LA Apartment size for $1,500: 1,138 square feetMonthly rent: $1,256Average apartment size: 953 square feet
7. Fort Wayne, IN Another pair of neighbors join the list — Indiana and Kentucky, clocking in with remarkably similar prices and living costs.
4. Tulsa, OK Tulsa has become a popular destination for workers freed from the constraints of in-office work thanks to the city's Tulsa Remote program, which offers transplants a $10,000 grant to start a new life there. Tulsa has a cost of living that comes in 23% below the national average, according to MakeMy Move, as well as a vibrant arts and culinary scene. The average household in America spends $61,334 a year on various expenses, more than a third of which typically goes to housing, according to the World Population Review.
3. Oklahoma City, OK Exports as a % of GDP: 2.9%
2. Toledo, OH Apartment size for $1,500: 1,268 square feetMonthly rent: $957Average apartment size: 809 square feet
1. Wichita, KS Healthcare cost in Kansas are lower than the average among the top 10 states.How long $1 million will last in savings: 21 years, 11 months, and 19 daysRetiree's cost of living here for one year: $45,519Annual groceries cost: $4,240Annual housing cost: $7,478Annual healthcare cost: $7,107
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