To live in a big city like San Francisco, California, you have to make twice as much as most Americans, according to a May analysis from Moody’s Analytics.
Still, the San Francisco area is the only major metro area where one-bedroom apartment rents have actually declined since 2019, according to Apartment List.
Rents in the area increased from $2,435 in April 2019 to $2,281 in April 2024.
But that’s not the case in other U.S. metro areas, where rent for a one-bedroom apartment has steadily increased since 2020.
CNBC Make It analyzes from Apartment list From April 2019 to April 2024, metropolitan statistical areas with at least 500,000 residents were screened to find the metros with the largest rent increases for one-bedroom apartments, as defined by the Census Bureau.
Eight of the ten largest metropolitan areas are in the Sun Belt. Since 2019, rents in these cities have increased by more than 37%.
U.S. metro areas with the biggest rent increases since 2019: Knoxville, Tennessee
The Knoxville, TN metro area will see the largest rent increases for one-bedroom apartments from 2019 to 2024.
Rents in the area rose 55.8% from $582 to $907.
Knoxville is the U.S. metropolitan area with the largest rent increase for a one-bedroom apartment since 2019.
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The cost of living in Knoxville is 15% lower than the national average, while housing costs are 29% higher.
The city is home to the University of Tennessee and is close to other major cities, including Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta.
The 10 U.S. metro areas with the biggest one-bedroom apartment rent increases since 2019
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Greensboro-High Point, NC
- Dayton-Kettering, Ohio
- Tucson, Arizona
- El Paso, Texas
- North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL
- Tampa-St. St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida
- Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
Albuquerque, New Mexico, was the second city to see the largest rent increase for one-bedroom apartments since before the covid-19 pandemic.
The rent for a one-bedroom apartment increased 49.5% from 2019 to 2024, from $646 to $966.
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico and the economic capital of the state Encyclopedia Britannica. It is about 60 miles from Santa Fe, the state capital.
According to statistics, the city’s cost of living is 7% lower than the national average salary scale. Housing costs and utility prices in the city are also lower than the national average.
Greensboro-High Point, NC
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Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina, is the third metro on the list. The rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the area increased 44.3% from 2019 to 2024, from $657 to $948.
The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area is part of the Piedmont Triad region of north-central North Carolina.
According to reports, it is the manufacturing base of the state New York Times. High Point is also known as the Home Furnishings Capital of the World, while other Triad cities Greensboro and Winston-Salem specialize in textiles and tobacco.
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