Detroit has a 22% vacancy rate and rent prices still rose 3.9%
The intuition is simple: a city with lots of empty homes should have cheaper rent. Detroit has the highest vacancy rate of any large US city at 22.3%, but its rent rose 3.9% over the past year. New Orleans is at 20.4% and rising too.
That sounds backwards at first because vacancy rates count every empty housing unit, including plenty that are not actually available to rent or buy. Those units are technically vacant, but they are not competing with homes that are on the market.
The highest-vacancy cities
City | Vacancy rate | Typical rent | Year over year |
|---|---|---|---|
Detroit, MI | 22.3% | $1,347 | +3.9% |
New Orleans, LA | 20.4% | $1,648 | +0.8% |
17.7% | $1,377 | +6.1% | |
17.4% | $1,929 | -3.4% | |
15.9% | $1,424 | +8.6% | |
14.9% | $2,145 | +2.2% | |
14.7% | $1,806 | +6.6% | |
13.8% | $1,567 | +5.0% | |
13.4% | $3,008 | +1.5% |
That table contains two completely different kinds of empty. Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Baton Rouge have abandoned and uninhabitable stock, houses nobody can rent because nobody could or is allowed to live in them. Cape Coral, Scottsdale, and Miami have seasonal and second homes, units that are empty in the Census count because the owner lives elsewhere, and that's their vacation home.
Neither kind adds a single apartment to what a renter can actually choose from, which is why Cleveland can be 15.9% vacant and post an 8.6% rent increase in the same year.
The tightest markets
City | Vacancy rate | Typical rent | Year over year |
|---|---|---|---|
2.0% | $3,142 | +2.5% | |
3.0% | $2,365 | -5.8% | |
3.2% | $2,781 | 0.0% | |
3.2% | $2,816 | +2.0% | |
3.4% | $2,068 | +1.3% | |
3.9% | $1,621 | -0.5% |
Fontana, Santa Ana, and Santa Clarita are inland and suburban Southern California, where every unit is occupied and rents sit near $3,000. Madison is the one cheap city here, tight because of the University of Wisconsin and rising slowly because it builds new housing.
What vacancy actually predicts
The Census Bureau figure includes units for sale, units rented but not yet occupied, seasonal homes, and units that are simply empty. Only a fraction is apartments waiting for a tenant, and that fraction is what moves rent, which is why the headline number doesn't. National rental vacancy specifically sits near 7%, a different and narrower measure, and it's the one that's ticking down as the building boom fades.
So a high Census vacancy rate tells you a city has a lot of housing it isn't using, which is a story about decline or seasonality rather than about your rent. A low one is more informative, because a city where 98% of all homes are occupied has no slack anywhere, and that does show up in price.
If you're using vacancy to time a move or a negotiation, look for the rental-specific number for your metro rather than the headline figure, and pair it with the rent trend. We mapped where landlords actually have leverage right now in the renter's market is ending.
Sources
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, tables B25002 and B25004, occupancy and vacancy status, 2023 five-year estimates
RentDataNow city rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, June 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Which US city has the highest vacancy rate?
Detroit, at 22.3% of all housing units, followed by New Orleans at 20.4% and Baton Rouge at 17.7%. Most of those empty units are abandoned or uninhabitable rather than available for rent, which is why rent in all three still rose over the past year.
Does high vacancy mean cheap rent?
Not reliably. Census vacancy counts seasonal homes, units for sale, and abandoned stock alongside apartments for lease. Cleveland is 15.9% vacant and rent rose 8.6%. The rental-specific vacancy rate is the number that actually tracks prices.
Which cities have the lowest vacancy?
Fontana, California at 2.0%, then Hialeah, Florida at 3.0% and Santa Ana and Santa Clarita, California at 3.2%. These are fully occupied suburban markets, and most carry rents near $3,000 a month.
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Henry Jo is a housing analyst covering rent data, affordability, city comparisons, and much more. He started following rental data while apartment hunting in two cities at once, and he lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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