US cities where rent is dropping the fastest
Ann Arbor, MI leads US rent declines at -9.2% year-over-year — a sign that the post-2022 multifamily construction wave is finally reaching renters.
Despite headlines about runaway rent, the median price actually fell year-over-year in 25+ large US cities. This ranking lists the 25 where rent dropped fastest, using ZORI April 2026 versus the same month a year earlier.
Ann Arbor, MI leads the decline at -9.2% YoY, with median rent down to $2,294/month.
| # | City | YoY change | Median rent | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ann Arbor, MI | -9.2% | $2,294 | 122,036 |
| 2 | College Station, TX | -5.8% | $1,596 | 124,570 |
| 3 | West Valley City, UT | -5.4% | $1,519 | 138,437 |
| 4 | Antioch, CA | -5.3% | $2,710 | 116,477 |
| 5 | Rio Rancho, NM | -4.3% | $1,767 | 108,515 |
| 6 | Killeen, TX | -4.0% | $1,233 | 158,159 |
| 7 | Eugene, OR | -3.9% | $1,843 | 179,591 |
| 8 | Denton, TX | -3.8% | $1,478 | 152,866 |
| 9 | Elizabeth, NJ | -3.5% | $2,224 | 137,302 |
| 10 | Cape Coral, FL | -3.3% | $1,946 | 215,536 |
| 11 | Hialeah, FL | -3.1% | $2,423 | 226,165 |
| 12 | Oxnard, CA | -3.1% | $2,904 | 200,928 |
| 13 | Coral Springs, FL | -2.8% | $2,294 | 136,103 |
| 14 | West Jordan, UT | -2.5% | $1,645 | 116,692 |
| 15 | Pasadena, TX | -2.5% | $1,354 | 149,433 |
| 16 | New Braunfels, TX | -2.5% | $1,560 | 104,643 |
| 17 | Tampa, FL | -2.5% | $1,951 | 401,618 |
| 18 | Corpus Christi, TX | -2.4% | $1,400 | 317,419 |
| 19 | Tempe, AZ | -2.4% | $1,661 | 188,065 |
| 20 | Lancaster, CA | -2.2% | $2,362 | 169,169 |
| 21 | Hesperia, CA | -2.1% | $2,191 | 100,775 |
| 22 | Miramar, FL | -2.1% | $2,564 | 138,600 |
| 23 | Salinas, CA | -1.9% | $2,514 | 161,761 |
| 24 | Odessa, TX | -1.8% | $1,606 | 115,322 |
| 25 | Brandon, FL | -1.8% | $1,783 | 119,767 |
Key findings
- Ann Arbor, MI saw the steepest year-over-year rent decline at -9.2%.
- Multifamily construction completed in 2022–2024 is finally reaching renters as units lease up at concessions.
- Sunbelt metros that overshot during 2020–2022 are heavily represented.
- Rent declines this year don't always reverse 2021–2022 surges — many of these cities are still well above their pre-pandemic levels.
Why rent is falling in these cities
Year-over-year rent declines at this scale almost always trace to one of three causes: new apartment supply opening faster than population growth, post-2022 unwinding of pandemic-era pricing, or local job-market softening that thins the pool of renters who can afford top-of-market rents.
For the opposite end, see cities where rent is rising fastest. Click any city to view the full 10-year ZORI history and assess whether the recent drop is a reversal or a normalization.
Median rent figures use Zillow's Observed Rent Index (ZORI) for the most recent published month. ZORI is a smoothed, repeat-rent index that tracks the typical asking rent for the middle tier of the housing market in each city, designed to be less noisy than raw asking-rent listings.
The universe is US cities with at least 100,000 residents per the latest US Census ACS 5-year estimate. ZORI markets above $20,000/month are excluded as statistical outliers (these are typically luxury submarkets, not citywide medians). Year-over-year change compares the current month to the same calendar month one year earlier.
Rent-burden calculations use median household income from the US Census ACS 5-year estimate (most recent vintage), divided into annualized rent (median rent × 12). The federal "rent-burdened" threshold is 30% of household income.
The full underlying dataset is available as a CSV for verification, republishing, or extending the analysis.
↓ cities-where-rent-is-dropping-fastest.csvThese findings and the accompanying dataset are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You are free to republish, including commercially, as long as you credit RentDataNow and link back to this page so readers can verify the underlying data.
RentDataNow Data Team (2026). "US cities where rent is dropping the fastest." RentDataNow. Retrieved from https://rentdatanow.com/studies/cities-where-rent-is-dropping-fastest
- ZORI (Zillow Observed Rent Index) — monthly city-level median rent, smoothed repeat-rent methodology. Public download at zillow.com/research/data.
- US Census ACS 5-year estimates — Table B25064 (median gross rent), B19013 (median household income), B01003 (total population). US Census Bureau, latest published vintage.
- HUD Fair Market Rents — used as a sanity check on bedroom-level breakdowns. US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- RentDataNow city pages — every row in the rankings links to the full underlying time series, bedroom breakdown, and salary-vs-rent analysis for that city.
RentDataNow publishes original research grounded in ZORI rent data, BLS wage data, HUD Fair Market Rents, and US Census demographics. Every study includes the underlying numbers, methodology, and sources so readers can verify or extend the analysis.
RentDataNow is an independent service and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Zillow Group, Inc., the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or any government agency. ZORI (Zillow Observed Rent Index), the American Community Survey, Fair Market Rents, and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification only. Figures are provided "as is" without warranty of accuracy or completeness, and any reuse is at your own risk. See our Terms of Service for full terms.