Typical Rent in the 30 Largest US Metro Areas 2026
About This Dataset
Typical Rent in the 30 Largest US Metro Areas 2026
What this chart shows. The typical monthly asking rent in August 2026 in the 30 largest US metro areas, as ranked by Zillow. New York was the most expensive at $3,615 a month, followed by San Francisco at $3,409 and Boston at $3,074. San Antonio was the cheapest at $1,422, just below St. Louis at $1,443.
How the data is collected. The Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) is the mean of listed rents that fall in the 35th to 65th percentile range for all homes and apartments in an area, weighted to reflect the local rental housing stock. This chart uses the smoothed series for all homes plus multifamily buildings.
Background. By Zillow's measure, San Francisco's typical rent rose 10.8% from August 2025, the largest increase among the 30 metros, and Chicago's rose 4.9%. Rents were lower than a year earlier in 4 of the 30.
Limits. Each metro area covers the whole region around its main city; "Dallas, TX", for example, is the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. The index tracks asking rents in listings, which can differ from what existing tenants pay.
How the data is collected. The Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) is the mean of listed rents that fall in the 35th to 65th percentile range for all homes and apartments in an area, weighted to reflect the local rental housing stock. This chart uses the smoothed series for all homes plus multifamily buildings.
Background. By Zillow's measure, San Francisco's typical rent rose 10.8% from August 2025, the largest increase among the 30 metros, and Chicago's rose 4.9%. Rents were lower than a year earlier in 4 of the 30.
Limits. Each metro area covers the whole region around its main city; "Dallas, TX", for example, is the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. The index tracks asking rents in listings, which can differ from what existing tenants pay.
Analysis
New York had the highest typical asking rent of the 30 largest US metros in August 2026, $3,615 a month, about 2.5 times San Antonio's $1,422.
Key Findings
🏆
New York, NY leads in Typical monthly rent (US dollars) with 3,615 in 2026.
📊
Average Typical monthly rent (US dollars) in 2026: 2,102 · median: 1,917.
↔️
Gap in 2026: New York, NY is 2.5× larger than San Antonio, TX.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) and Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI)
- Coverage
- 30 entities · 2026 · 30 observations
- Measure
- Typical monthly rent (US dollars)
- Last updated
- 2 October 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2026.
An article using this data
A typical home costs $179,496 in West Virginia and $833,340 in Hawaii: US home values and rents by state in 2026
Zillow data for August 2026: Hawaii has the highest typical home value, West Virginia the lowest, New Hampshire the most growth since 2020 and the New York metr...
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
Related Charts
More statistics on similar topics