Rent is now falling in just 24 big US cities, down from 73 in March

The list of big cities where rent is going down has shrunk fast. As of September 2026, typical rent was lower than a year earlier in 24 of the 328 US cities with at least 100,000 residents and a full year of data, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index. In March, it was 73 cities, and in June, 59.

The declines are small. The biggest is in Lehigh Acres, Florida, near Fort Myers, where typical rent fell 2.2% to $1,812. Nowhere else is down more than 1.6%. Nationally, typical rent rose 2.9% over the same year, to $1,932.

Texas dominates. Eleven of the 24 are Texas cities, including the Dallas suburbs of McKinney, Denton, Frisco, and Garland, the Houston suburbs of Sugar Land and Conroe, and Houston itself, essentially flat at $1,544. Four are in Colorado, including Aurora, Lakewood, Thornton, and Greeley, and four are in Florida, including Tampa and Hialeah. The rest are scattered: Savannah, Alexandria, Virginia, North Las Vegas, Gresham, Oregon, and Santa Clarita, California.

Several of these cities are still well below earlier highs. McKinney's typical rent is 6.1% below its July 2022 peak, and Frisco's is 4.3% below its 2023 high.

Apartment-only trackers tell a softer story. Realtor.com said the median asking rent for studios to two-bedrooms in the 50 largest metro areas fell 0.4% from a year earlier in September, its 38th straight month of annual declines, though the slowest in three years, and 43.9% of those listings offered a concession. Apartment List also had its national median down 0.4%. The Zillow index behind our numbers covers houses and condos as well as apartments, so it shows fewer cities in decline.

For renters in these cities, a flat or falling market is the time to ask for a better deal at renewal, or to shop around. Nationally, though, the window is closing. Most big cities that were seeing declines this spring have turned back up, and the national annual pace has climbed every month since March. For how to use a soft market, see how to negotiate rent, and for the bigger picture, our September rent report.

Sources

• RentDataNow city rent data, anchored to the seasonally adjusted Zillow Observed Rent Index, September 2026; covers US cities with at least 100,000 residents and a full year of data

• Realtor.com September 2026 rent report (October 15, 2026)

• Apartment List National Rent Report (September 29, 2026)