Income rose faster than Rent in 14 large US cities
Household income rose faster than rent in 14 large US cities in the most recent year, and 11 of those cities sit in the Sun Belt or Texas. Oakland led the group, where income rose 4.3% while rent fell 3.8%, and that's a gap of 8.1 percentage points running in a renter's favor.
Income figures here come from CensusEasy, which tracks median household income by city from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, while the rent side comes from our own index. Both cover the same stretch, June 2023 to June 2024 for rent and the 2023 to 2024 survey years for income.
City | Income change | Rent change | Gap | Median income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Oakland, CA | +4.3% | -3.8% | 8.1 pts | $101,600 |
Atlanta, GA | +4.5% | -2.3% | 6.8 pts | $85,652 |
Austin, TX | +2.4% | -4.4% | 6.8 pts | $93,658 |
Phoenix, AZ | +5.6% | -0.2% | 5.8 pts | $81,332 |
Tampa, FL | +5.9% | +0.3% | 5.6 pts | $75,475 |
Dallas, TX | +4.1% | -1.1% | 5.2 pts | $70,518 |
Plano, TX | +3.3% | -1.7% | 5.0 pts | $112,253 |
San Antonio, TX | +3.4% | -1.1% | 4.5 pts | $65,056 |
Glendale, AZ | +4.8% | +0.4% | 4.4 pts | $73,530 |
Charlotte, NC | +4.6% | +0.3% | 4.3 pts | $82,068 |
Mesa, AZ | +5.0% | +0.8% | 4.2 pts | $82,752 |
Orlando, FL | +4.4% | +0.2% | 4.2 pts | $72,336 |
Raleigh, NC | +3.6% | -0.6% | 4.2 pts | $85,395 |
Jacksonville, FL | +4.3% | +0.3% | 4.0 pts | $69,872 |
Seven of the fourteen saw rent actually fall, and Austin's the clearest case, where rent dropped 4.4% while income climbed 2.4%. Tampa posted the strongest income growth in the group at 5.9%, with Phoenix at 5.6% and Mesa at 5.0% behind it.
The pattern lines up with supply, since they're the metros that built heavily through the apartment boom, and once those units opened landlords had to compete while local hiring kept lifting pay. That's the mechanism behind the great rent divergence, where Sun Belt rents cooled while supply-starved markets kept climbing.
Plano's worth mentioning because it shows how far up the income scale this reaches, since median household income there is $112,253, the highest on the list, and rent still fell 1.7% while income rose 3.3%.
One limit on this comparison, and it's a real one. Census income data lags, so 2024's the most recent complete survey year, while our rent index runs through June 2026. This is the newest year the two can be measured against each other, and it isn't the last twelve months, because rents in several of these cities have moved again since and we track those current figures separately.
The longer view doesn't line up with this one. Measured from 2020 instead, the cities where renting got easier were mostly expensive coastal ones like Seattle, Denver and Los Angeles. Over the single most recent year the advantage moved to the Sun Belt, though Oakland and Atlanta show up on both lists, which makes them the two most consistent places for renters over the past several years.
Sources
CensusEasy, median household income by city, 2023 and 2024
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, the underlying income source
RentDataNow city rent index (Zillow Observed Rent Index), June 2023 and June 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
Which cities had income growing faster than rent?
Oakland led with an 8.1 point gap, income up 4.3% against rent down 3.8%. Atlanta and Austin followed at 6.8 points each, then Phoenix, Tampa, Dallas, Plano, San Antonio, Glendale, Charlotte, Mesa, Orlando, Raleigh and Jacksonville.
Why are so many of them in the Sun Belt?
Those metros built the most apartments during the construction boom, so new supply forced landlords to compete on price while local hiring kept raising pay. Seven of the 14 cities saw rent fall outright over the year.
Why does this use 2024 income data instead of this year?
Census income figures lag, and 2024 is the most recent complete survey year, while our rent index runs through June 2026. Comparing 2023 to 2024 keeps both measures on the same window rather than pairing current rent against older income.
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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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