America's Most Affordable Places To Rent In 2019

It’s a tale as old as time: New York and California are enticing with their ease of access to big cities and beaches galore, but in 2019, both locations continue to be among the most expensive places to rent in the United States.

Whether you are starting a family or looking for a new place to live after graduating, taking the financial burden of rent into account is important. 

Where The Value Lies

Benzinga has analyzed data from RENTCafe’s average cost-of-rent report for the U.S. Fifty ZIP codes have average rent prices beneath $600 per month.   

Among the areas leading the way in affordable rent, 10 of the 50 ZIP codes with the lowest average rent are located in Ohio; nine are in Kansas; and eight are in Tennessee.

The least expensive location for U.S. renters in 2019 is ZIP code 67213 in Wichita, Kansas. Renters there spend an average of $423 per month for living space.

The most expensive location for rent in the U.S. is ZIP code 10282 in lower Manhattan. 

In order to make ends meet, renters here will need to budget for an average cost of $6,211 per month.

To ensure a reliable data set, ReliableCAFE said the study uses the actual rent charged in apartment buildings with 50 or more rental units located in over 130 U.S. markets.

The data set contains approximately 15 million apartment units. A ZIP code must also contain at least three rental properties and 200 or more rental units.

David Vs. Goliath: A 2019 Cost Comparison

If you were choosing a new place to live, the average cost to rent an apartment in Manhattan’s 10282 ZIP code is nearly 15 times the average cost of rent in Wichita’s 67213 ZIP code.

In other words, you could afford one year and three months of rent in Wichita’s 67213 ZIP code for the same cost as one month of rent in Manhattan’s 10282 ZIP code.

Overall, RENTCafe’s study reveals what many across America already know. California and New York continue to be the most expensive rental markets nationwide. 

Twenty-eight of the 50 most expensive average cost-of-rent locations are located in New York City. Twenty-six of the 28 locations are in Manhattan alone.

Eighteen of the 50 most expensive locations to rent in the U.S. are located in California.

Together, California and New York are home to 96% — or 48 of the top 50 — most expensive locations to rent an apartment or home in the U.S.

As rent prices continue to soar nationwide, a lack of affordable housing in places like California and New York continues to fuel homelessness nationwide. California has four of the five cities with the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness in America.

The following are the cities in America with the lowest average monthly rent in 2019.

Photo by StarksWinter via Wikimedia.