The most expensive US cities to rent in, ranked
San Francisco, CA is the most expensive large US city to rent in at $4,101/month, 116% above the national median.
The 25 most expensive large US cities to rent in, sorted by current median rent. Figures use ZORI April 2026 and exclude the ultra-luxury statistical outliers (markets above $20,000/mo). Population minimum 100,000.
San Francisco, CA leads at $4,101/month — about 116% above the US national median rent of $1,895.
| # | City | Median rent | vs national | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | $4,101 | +116.4% | +20.1% |
| 2 | New York, NY | $3,927 | +107.2% | +10.8% |
| 3 | Santa Clara, CA | $3,727 | +96.7% | +7.1% |
| 4 | Sunnyvale, CA | $3,628 | +91.5% | +8.7% |
| 5 | Cambridge, MA | $3,584 | +89.1% | +6.4% |
| 6 | San Mateo, CA | $3,561 | +87.9% | +7.1% |
| 7 | Carlsbad, CA | $3,472 | +83.2% | +2.5% |
| 8 | Boston, MA | $3,413 | +80.1% | -1.7% |
| 9 | Thousand Oaks, CA | $3,396 | +79.2% | +1.5% |
| 10 | San Jose, CA | $3,329 | +75.7% | +7.2% |
| 11 | Irvine, CA | $3,300 | +74.1% | +0.2% |
| 12 | Orange, CA | $3,239 | +70.9% | +3.5% |
| 13 | Fremont, CA | $3,146 | +66.0% | +7.6% |
| 14 | Berkeley, CA | $3,136 | +65.5% | +4.7% |
| 15 | Jersey City, NJ | $3,117 | +64.5% | +5.0% |
| 16 | Fontana, CA | $3,065 | +61.7% | +0.9% |
| 17 | Costa Mesa, CA | $3,041 | +60.5% | +1.0% |
| 18 | Torrance, CA | $3,012 | +58.9% | +6.9% |
| 19 | Miami, FL | $3,012 | +58.9% | +2.0% |
| 20 | Huntington Beach, CA | $3,001 | +58.4% | -0.3% |
| 21 | Chula Vista, CA | $2,992 | +57.9% | +3.1% |
| 22 | Boca Raton, FL | $2,951 | +55.7% | +3.9% |
| 23 | San Diego, CA | $2,942 | +55.3% | +3.2% |
| 24 | Oceanside, CA | $2,930 | +54.6% | +1.9% |
| 25 | Pasadena, CA | $2,907 | +53.4% | -1.6% |
Key findings
- San Francisco, CA is the most expensive large US city for renters at $4,101/mo.
- Every city on the list rents for at least 53% above the national median.
- California and New York metros account for the majority of the top 25.
- Several Sunbelt cities have rolled off the most-expensive list since 2022 as construction caught up with demand.
What's driving rent at the top
The cities at the very top of the list share three traits: chronic housing undersupply, concentrated high-wage industries (tech, finance, biotech), and zoning that constrains new multifamily construction. Rents in these markets responded less to the 2022–2024 building boom because the boom didn't reach them.
If you're priced out of any city above, browse the cheapest US cities to rent in for comparable analysis at the affordable end. Or click any city above to see its full price history and bedroom-by-bedroom breakdown.
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.
↓ most-expensive-us-cities-to-rent.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). "The most expensive US cities to rent in, ranked." RentDataNow. Retrieved from https://rentdatanow.com/studies/most-expensive-us-cities-to-rent
- 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.