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This Is the Most Expensive City for Renters in Each State

Lilly Milman

By Lilly Milman

Feb 27, 2023


We analyzed our rental data to find out the most expensive city for renting in each state, plus Washington, DC, based on the median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment over the course of the last month. Some of our findings are:

  • Tech hubs, unsurprisingly, dominate their states in terms of rent prices.
  • Commuter cities are some of the most expensive on our list, but can still result in some savings.
  • Less populated does not mean less expensive when it comes to median rent prices.

Keep reading to see our insights and our full list of the most expensive city in each state. Do you see your city on the list?

Top 10: Each State's Most Expensive City

Here’s how much you’ll end up paying per month if you live alone in one of the top 10 most expensive cities by state on our list, in a one-bedroom apartment at the median price.

RankStateCityPopulationMedian 1-Bed Monthly Rent
1New YorkManhattan1,628,710$4,425
2CaliforniaLaguna Beach22,827$3,766
3MassachusettsCambridge118,927$3,035
4FloridaDelray Beach69,451$2,959
5New JerseyHoboken52,677$2,900
6WashingtonBellevue148,164$2,321
7ConnecticutStamford129,638$2,295
8VirginiaArlington233,464$2,272
9District of ColumbiaWashington705,749$2,228
10MainePortland66,215$2,067

Tech Hubs

While more and more tech companies are embracing remote work, it seems that tech hubs still come with the biggest price tag in terms of rent in their respective states. Of the top 10 most expensive cities on our list: More than half are tech hubs or cities with a reasonably easy commute to tech hubs.

  • Manhattan comes in at number one on our list of most expensive cities in each state, while Washington, DC comes in at number nine. Both are considered “Superstar Tech Cities” by the Brookings Institute.
  • Cambridge, Hoboken, Stamford, Arlington, and Bellevue also make the top 10. Notably, Cambridge and Bellevue beat out their nearby tech hubs for most expensive rent in their state.

Commuter Cities

Unsurprisingly, densely populated tech hubs like Manhattan and Washington, D.C. appeared in the top 10 most expensive cities by state. But also breaking the top 10 list were cities that are nearby, like:

  • Cambridge — a 20-minute train ride or drive to Boston.
  • Hoboken — a 40-minute commute from Manhattan.
  • Bellevue — a 25-minute bus ride to Seattle.
  • Stamford — the longest commute to its respective hub, clocking in at about an hour via car or train to get to New York City.
  • Arlington — a 20-minute drive to Washington DC.

In some cases, living in these smaller cities within the same metro area as a tech hub can still lead to significant savings, despite the added commute (and the fact that they are the most expensive city in their state).

For example, by living in Hoboken instead of Manhattan, you could save $1,525 a month, or $18,300 a year, in rent. While the commute would be much longer, living in Stamford rather than New York City would save you $25,560 annually. The overall cost of living in New Jersey and Connecticut is also lower than in New York, despite the fact that all three areas are experiencing the same price hikes that we are seeing year-over-year on a national level.

Hoboken, Stamford, and Manhattan Map

In others, moving outside the tech hub city could end up costing you:

  • Moving outside of Washington, DC to Arlington won’t end up saving you much. If you live in a one-bedroom apartment alone in Arlington, you’d end up paying $528 more a year in rent. Factoring in commuting costs (Arlington has one of the most expensive commutes in the country, according to Fox 5 DC) you’d end up spending significantly more than if you lived in D.C.
  • Living in Cambridge rather than Boston will end up driving up your rent price, as well. The median rent of nearby Boston is $2,750 a month — meaning that choosing to live in Cambridge instead of Boston will cost you $3,420 more in rent annually. Both cities also come with a high cost of living compared with the national average, and have competitive rental markets.
  • In Seattle, the median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,913 a month. So, Bellevue residents end up paying $4,896 more annually in rent.

Population Matters — Sometimes

More populated cities often tend to have the highest rent prices — the top 25 most expensive cities in their respective states on our list also includes the 10 most populated cities on our list — but just because a city is more highly populated does not mean it will have a higher rent price than a smaller city in the same state.

  • Laguna Beach, CA has the lowest population of all the cities on our list with 22,827 people — and a much lower population than other California cities with high rent prices, like San Diego, San Jose, and Los Angeles — but comes in at the number two on our list of the most expensive city to rent in each state — with a median rent price that’s even higher than the notoriously expensive tech hub San Francisco, CA, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,870.
  • Newark, DE also appears in the top 20 most expensive cities on our list, despite having the fourth smallest population at only 33,515 people and less than half the population of Wilmington, DE.

Smaller coastal cities will also almost always come with higher rental prices than much larger cities that are further from the coast. Our top 10 most expensive cities are all located on either the East or West Coast.

Cities clustered on the coasts are notably the most expensive for renters. In this map visualization, states that appear a darker shade of blue are more expensive than those that are a lighter shade.Cities clustered on the coasts are notably the most expensive for renters. In this map visualization, states that appear a darker shade of blue are more expensive than those that are a lighter shade.

This isn't always the case, though. Notable non-coastal cities — most with larger populations than our top 10 (excluding Manhattan) — in the top 25 most expensive cities by state are:

RankStateCityPopulationMedian 1-Bed Monthly Rent
11ArizonaScottsdale258,069$1,892
13GeorgiaAtlanta506,811$1,795
14IllinoisChicago2,693,980$1,795
15OregonBend100,421$1,795
19ColoradoDenver727,211$1,695
22TennesseeNashville670,820$1,581
24TexasPlano287,677$1,546
25IdahoBoise228,959$1,543

The Most Expensive City in Each State

Find our complete list of the most expensive city in every state below.

For more data, dig into one of our Market Reports, where we rank the largest cities in the country based on rent prices on a daily basis and provide neighborhood data; our National Rent Report, where we analyzed rental data and trends across U.S. cities; or our Massachusetts Rent Report, where we analyze median rent prices for units available for rent in Massachusetts, highlighting the cities and towns with the most and least expensive median rent prices, as well as recent rent price trends.

The Most Expensive City in Each State

RankStateCityPopulationMedian 1-Bed Monthly Rent
1New YorkManhattan1,628,710$4,425
2CaliforniaLaguna Beach22,827$3,766
3MassachusettsCambridge118,927$3,035
4FloridaDelray Beach69,451$2,959
5New JerseyHoboken52,677$2,900
6WashingtonBellevue148,164$2,321
7ConnecticutStamford129,638$2,295
8VirginiaArlington233,464$2,272
9District of ColumbiaWashington705,749$2,228
10MainePortland66,215$2,067
11ArizonaScottsdale258,069$1,892
12MarylandSilver Spring81,773$1,848
13GeorgiaAtlanta506,811$1,795
14IllinoisChicago2,693,980$1,795
15OregonBend100,421$1,795
16DelawareNewark33,515$1,777
17HawaiiEast Honolulu47,540$1,750
18South CarolinaCharleston137,566$1,730
19ColoradoDenver727,211$1,695
20Rhode IslandProvidence179,883$1,650
21VermontBurlington42,819$1,600
22TennesseeNashville670,820$1,581
23New HampshireManchester112,673$1,568
24TexasPlano287,677$1,546
25IdahoBoise228,959$1,543
26NevadaEnterprise171,108$1,507
27LouisianaNew Orleans390,144$1,500
28MichiganAnn Arbor119,980$1,411
29PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia1,584,060$1,396
30North CarolinaRaleigh474,069$1,395
31UtahSalt Lake City200,567$1,345
32MinnesotaSt. Louis Park48,662$1,263
33WisconsinMadison259,680$1,240
34KansasOverland Park195,494$1,195
35OhioCleveland381,009$1,155
36AlaskaAnchorage288,000$1,150
37MissouriKansas City495,327$1,135
38MontanaMissoula75,516$1,130
39AlabamaHuntsville200,574$1,034
40ArkansasFayetteville87,590$995
41South DakotaRapid City77,503$995
42IndianaBloomington85,755$992
43New MexicoAlbuquerque560,513$982
44KentuckyLouisville617,638$925
45IowaDes Moines214,237$900
46WyomingGillette32,030$900
47NebraskaOmaha478,192$893
48MississippiJackson160,628$867
49OklahomaTulsa401,190$849
50North DakotaFargo124,662$845
51West VirginiaMorgantown30,549$625

Methodology: We analyzed our rental data to find out the most expensive city for renting in every state, plus Washington, DC, based on the median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment over the course of the last month. We only looked at the data for cities with populations higher than 20,000 people. The above data also includes only cities and towns that meet adequate inventory thresholds during the past month.

If you want more guidelines on rent prices as you look for your next place, start your search here. And if you want an even closer look at what a potential move may cost you with cost of living factored in, use our rent calculator.

At ApartmentAdvisor, we give every listing a deal rating to let you know if an apartment is fairly priced for the market.

If you'd like to download this report, please contact PR at amy.mueller@apartmentadvisor.com

We rate and sort every listing based on fair market rent.

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