Rent Inflation Strikes Again: 17.5% Median Rent Increase Since Feb '21

Rent prices continued to grow rapidly in February, with the median U.S. asking rent up 4% vs. January.   

Key Findings from Dwellsy’s Industry-leading data:

• In the past year, rent has gone up 17.5% to $1,820/mo - that’s an extra $271 per month. 
• Renters now need to spend an extra $3,250/yr on rent compared to this time last year. 

For those making the median household income (2020: $67,521), that’s a hardship, but renters make less - median income for renters was only $42,000 in 2019 vs. $81,000 for homeowners.  

At $1,820 in rent per month, the median renter household with a median rental is spending a shocking 52% of their (pre-tax) income on rent.  

Overall numbers, however, mask a dramatic difference between the market for single-family rentals and apartment rentals.  Single-family home rentals have shouldered the majority of the rent increases in the past year. 

This analysis is based on Dwellsy’s industry-leading data set, which draws from over 12 million rental homes and apartments.  In January, Dwellsy analyzed data for more than 446,000 available rentals in over 400 markets across the U.S.

Amongst large cities, those with the highest rents were:

For your convenience, Dwellsy provides quick access to summary rent price tables for all U.S. cities and towns.  For full details, download the following data sets:

• Rent expense tables for over 400 cities
• Comparison of Single-Family Rentals vs. Apartment rentals in over 200 cities
• Affordability rankings that compare income and rent in over 300 cities  

To book an interview with our CEO to discuss results and findings, please use this scheduling link.

For more details, access the full datasets here:

Nationwide Expense Rankings for all Metro Areas

Single Family Rentals vs. Apartment Rentals

Nationwide Rent Affordability Rankings for all Metro Areas

About Dwellsy Data

As the largest and most inclusive rental marketplace in the country, Dwellsy has a representative sample of in-market asking rents, and our analysis reflects the actual experience of renters searching for a place in a given time period. Most other housing market datasets are focused only on premium multifamily units and have to use complex statistical modeling techniques based on data from several years ago in their attempts to replicate Dwellsy's data.   

About Dwellsy

Dwellsy is the marketplace that renters want and deserve, a comprehensive residential home rentals marketplace based on the radical concept that true, organic search in a free eco-system creates more value than the pay-to-play model embraced by all of the current rental listing services. Dwellsy has more than 12 million residential rental home listings, more than any legacy classifieds site, and those numbers continue to rise. We also have the most diverse set of listings—including single-family rentals, condos, townhouses, and apartments at all price points.

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