Large Markets with Apartment Rents Below $1,400

Some of the most affordable places to rent a market-rate, professionally managed apartment are in the South and Midwest. Of the nation’s 50 largest markets, 11 had average effective asking rents below $1,400 per month as of January. Six of those markets were in the Midwest (two in Ohio) and five were in the South (three in Texas). Taking the top three slots for lowest monthly apartment rents were South region markets, with San Antonio at #1 with average rent of $1,181 in January, according to RealPage Market Analytics. That’s more than $600 less than the national average ($1,818). In second place was Memphis ($1,195), the only other market with monthly rents below the $1,200 mark. Despite low monthly rental rates, those two South region markets also had the lowest occupancy rates among the nation’s 50 largest markets, both at 92.1%. Greensboro/Winston-Salem ($1,235) rounded out the three lowest priced markets in the nation, while two other South region markets had monthly rents below $1,400 (Houston #8 at $1,349 and Fort Worth #11 at $1,358). Among the six lowest priced Midwest markets, monthly rents were tightly clustered around $1,300, ranging from $1,296 in Indianapolis (#4) to $1,351 in Kansas City (#10). For comparison, at the opposite end of the spectrum, New York had by far the nation’s highest monthly asking rents of $4,500.