Think Small-Town Living Keeps You Safe from Skyrocketing Rent? Think Again!

According to Dwellsy’s May data report, both apartment and single-family home rents

remained moderate—but there are always a few exceptions to the rule.

Jonas Bordo shares which 20 U.S. markets have the fastest-rising rents.

Los Altos, CA (June 2023)—When you think of small(ish) American towns, what comes to mind? As we enter the summer months, you might picture picnics, concerts on the square, county fairs, and fruit cobblers. But what about…quickly rising rents? Dwellsy CEO and cofounder Jonas Bordo admits that while larger checks to your landlord aren’t part of the down-home small-town cliché, they are very much a part of many renters’ realities.

“When I looked at the May data report, I noticed that while America’s most expensive rental markets tend to be larger cities like New York and Los Angeles, the places where rent is rising the fastest are towns without as much name recognition,” says Bordo, coauthor along with Hannah Hildebolt of Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster (Matt Holt, August 2023, ISBN: 978-1-6377439-2-8, $21.95). “Some of these areas—many of which are in the nation’s heartland—have experienced year-over-year rent growth well above 20 percent.”

Bordo (who doesn’t want to spark a lowkey panic among renters) is quick to point out that as a whole, America isn’t experiencing yet another eye-popping surge in rent prices. In fact, year-over-year changes continue to be moderate.

“Nationwide, asking rent for three-bedroom single-family home rentals (SFRs) has increased 4.5 percent, or $80, since May 2022,” says Bordo. “That’s trailing just below inflation. And asking rent for one-bedroom apartments has actually fallen 1.1 percent, or $15.”

Dwellsy, the largest home rental listing platform in the country, regularly mines its 14+ million residential rental listings for statistics and data. Because Dwellsy allows landlords to post listings free of charge, it has a pool of data that’s more diverse—and more representative of the true rental landscape—than that of pay-to-play listing services. Each month, Dwellsy breaks down this data regionally across the U.S. so renters and landlords can see up-to-date trends in rental housing and current affordability in over 250 markets.

When analyzing rental trends, Bordo and his fellow data-crunchers focus on one-bedroom apartments because they are similar to two-bedroom apartments in terms of inventory, but are more price-accessible. Three-bedroom homes are also featured because they are by far the most common rental home type. For a more detailed look at Dwellsy’s rent price analysis methodology, see this article.

Here, Bordo shares which U.S. cities currently have the fastest-growing rent prices.

Top Ten Cities with Fastest-Growing Rent for Three-Bedroom Home Rentals

If you’ve been following the rental market for the past few years, you know that consumer housing preferences have shifted toward SFRs—partially because more Americans are working from home and partially because high mortgage rates are deterring some would-be homeowners from buying their own properties. In these markets, demand for SFRs remains especially high.

“Albany, Georgia, has burst onto the scene with a 24.9 percent increase in rent since May 2022,” says Bordo. “At 21.1 percent, second-place Lawton, Oklahoma, is not far behind. However, it’s worth pointing out that none of these ten cities have a median asking rent above $1,850—which, incidentally, is still $25 less than the nationwide median asking rent of $1,875. While longtime residents of these areas are no doubt disgruntled by the surging prices, more recent transplants from larger, (much) more expensive markets might find these rents to be fairly reasonable.”

Cue the parade and fireworks (and soon, an airshow). After spending five long months in the number-one spot, Oshkosh-Neenah, Wisconsin, has finally descended to second place. It seems that this apartment market is beginning to flatten out—though it’s still reckoning with 50.1 percent year-over-year growth.

“In May, the new number one is Las Cruces, New Mexico, which has seen asking rent rise 51.4 percent since May 2022,” says Bordo. “Each city in the top five has year-over-year growth over 30 percent.

“Especially in smaller cities, the delivery of just a few new buildings can substantially impact median asking rent,” he adds. “Keep in mind that this particular cohort can be particularly volatile.”

About Jonas Bordo:

Jonas Bordo is the coauthor, along with Hannah Hildebolt, of the upcoming book Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster. He is the CEO and cofounder of Dwellsy, the free residential rental marketplace that makes it easy to find hard-to-find rentals. Prior to cofounding Dwellsy, Jonas was a senior executive at several leading real estate firms including Essex Property Trust and BentallGreenOak, and was with the Boston Consulting Group after graduating with his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

About the Book:

Everything You Need to Know About Renting But Didn’t Know to Ask: All the Insider Dirt to Help You Get the Best Deal and Avoid Disaster (Matt Holt, August 2023, ISBN: 978-1-6377439-2-8, $21.95) is available for pre-order from major online booksellers.

About Dwellsy:

Dwellsy is the renter’s marketplace: a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free ecosystem creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services. Dwellsy has more than 14 million residential rental listings—more than any legacy classifieds site—as well as the most diverse set of listings, including single family rentals, condos, and apartments. Dwellsy’s entirely different approach to residential rental listings focuses on presenting houses and apartments based on features renters need and want, not based on how much landlords pay to show their listings. Dwellsy investors include Frontier Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Heroic Ventures, and the University of Chicago. For more information, please visit our newsroom or find your next home at Dwellsy.com.