How Much Did We Spend on Rent in 2016?

We know that apartment rentals are a big business, but we wanted to know how big. To be specific, we wanted to know how much we spent on rent in the year 2016. Let’s break down the statistics and the math. Simply copy and paste the code below and you can share this infographic on your site: [fdembed]  

U.S. Rental Rates

In 50 major U.S. cities, here’s what the average 1-bedroom apartment costs: -Wichita, Kansas $470 –Cleveland, Ohio $525 –Detroit, Michigan $550 –Tucson, Arizona $560 -El Paso, Texas $600 –Oklahoma City, Oklahoma $650 –St. Louis, Missouri $700 –Albuquerque, New Mexico $715 –Indianapolis, Indiana $732 –Colorado Springs, Colorado $750 –Milwaukee, Wisconsin $750 –Louisville, Kentucky $750 –Columbus, Ohio $750 –Omaha, Nebraska $759 –Kansas City, Missouri $795 –San Antonio, Texas $830 –Memphis, Tennessee $835 –Newark, New Jersey $850 –Las Vegas, Nevada $875 –Jacksonville, Florida $896 –Phoenix, Arizona $909 –Virginia Beach, Virginia $975 -Anchorage, Alaska $995 –Sacramento, California $995 –Portland, Oregon $1,095 –Tampa, Florida $1,100 –Austin, Texas $1,100 -Baltimore, Maryland $1,175 –Charlotte, North Carolina $1,265 –Dallas, Texas $1,271 –Philadelphia, Pennsylvania $1,295 –New Orleans, Louisiana $1,298 –Houston, Texas $1,308 –Atlanta, Georgia $1,387 –Nashville, Tennessee $1,395 –Minneapolis, Minnesota $1,435 –Denver, Colorado $1,436 –Chicago, Illinois $1,595 -Anaheim, California $1,606 –San Diego, California $1,760 -Honolulu, Hawaii $1,795 –Seattle, Washington $1,795 –Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania $1,850 –Miami, Florida $2,000 –Los Angeles, California $2,014 –Boston, Massachusetts $2,025 –Washington, D.C. $2,172 –New York, New York $2,200 -San Jose, California $2,536 –San Francisco, California $3,600– The median U.S. apartment costs $790 per month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. has 42.58 million apartments. From there, we can calculate that we collectively spend $33.6 billion on rent each month. Multiply that by 12 months and you get $403.7 billion as the amount we collectively spent on rent last year. That’s a large sum! But wait, it’s not distributed equally. Each state has a different ratio of renters compared to the total population. Here are the percentages of renters by state: -West Virginia 27% -Delaware 28% -Iowa 28% -Michigan 28% -Minnesota 28% -Maine 29% -New Hampshire 29% -Vermont 29% -Pennsylvania 30% -Utah 30% -Alabama 31% -Idaho 31% -Indiana 31% -Mississippi 31% -South Carolina 31% -Wyoming 31% -Kentucky 32% -Missouri 32% -Montana 32% -New Mexico 32% -South Dakota 32% -Wisconsin 32% -Arkansas 33% -Connecticut 33% -Illinois 33% -Kansas 33% -Maryland 33% -Ohio 33% -Oklahoma 33% -Tennessee 33% -Virginia 33% -Florida 34% -Louisiana 34% -North Carolina 34% -Nebraska 34% -Colorado 35% -North Dakota 35% –New Jersey 35% -Georgia 36% -Alaska 37% -Arizona 37% -Texas 37% -Washington 37% -Massachusetts 38% -Oregon 38% -Rhode Island 40% -Hawaii 43% -Nevada 44% -California 45% –New York 46% -D.C. 58% Now, taking the fair market rent price in each state times the number of apartments in that state, let’s calculate the state totals for how much was spent on rent: -Wyoming $674,528,400 -South Dakota $897,967,104 -Vermont $986,923,980 -North Dakota $996,296,928 -Montana $1,198,576,368 -Delaware $1,301,973,696 -Alaska $1,338,551,604 -Idaho $1,598,705,304 -West Virginia $1,650,181,440 -Maine $1,679,547,672 -Rhode Island $1,935,304,080 -New Hampshire $1,980,128,880 -Nebraska $2,210,742,732 -New Mexico $2,438,928,120 -Utah $2,766,948,732 -Mississippi $2,984,820,768 -Iowa $3,041,857,440 -D.C. $3,042,482,292 -Arkansas $3,132,480,624 -Kansas $3,425,897,112 -Hawaii $4,122,138,240 -Oklahoma $4,340,763,360 -Kentucky $4,839,761,508 -Alabama $4,934,592,864 -Nevada $5,084,935,800 -South Carolina $5,220,829,104 -Louisiana $5,712,439,680 -Minnesota $6,543,427,968 -Connecticut $6,833,573,460 -Indiana $7,052,025,456 -Missouri $7,075,968,600 -Oregon $7,090,457,472 -Wisconsin $7,367,355,216 -Tennessee $7,641,017,808 -Colorado $9,266,232,816 -Arizona $9,365,269,632 -Michigan $10,619,673,792 -Maryland $11,759,305,680 -North Carolina $12,233,943,696 -Georgia $12,910,179,264 -Ohio $13,642,446,708 -Virginia $14,192,577,864 -Washington $14,246,253,216 -Massachusetts $15,477,789,708 -Pennsylvania $17,231,168,400 –New Jersey $18,444,119,484 -Illinois $19,748,389,368 -Florida $30,449,489,184 -Texas $36,904,219,200 –New York $55,773,232,272 -California $101,859,886,620

Is Rent Going Up or Down?

Historical data shows rent prices (adjusted to year 2000 dollars) have increased over a 60-year timespan: 1940 $284 1950 $257 1960 $350 1970 $415 1980 $481 1990 $571 2000 $602 More recent rent trends show slight increases, other than a dip during the recession: 2005 $862 2006 $887 2007 $878 2008 $924 2009 $909 2010 $905 2011 $891 2012 $891 2013 $903 2014 $934

What to Expect?

Fifty-one of the industry’s top economists and analysts predict that rent costs will remain slightly above the 20-year average growth rate of 2.8%. The predicted growth rates will be 3% in 2017 and 2.9% percent in 2018. Whether you live in a high-cost rental market like San Francisco or in Washington, D.C., where more than half of residents are renters, ForRent.com will keep you updated on available properties and rental trends.  

Sources: https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/grossrents.html http://www.deptofnumbers.com/rent/us/ http://nlihc.org/oor http://mentalfloss.com/article/81296/average-cost-one-bedroom-apartments-50-major-us-cities https://www.statista.com/topics/1618/residential-housing-in-the-us/ http://uli.org/press-release/consensus-forecast-october-2016/