Forever Renters: Here’s How Much Five Years of Renting Will Cost You in 50 Major Cities

Planning on renting for a while?

If you are, the smartest thing to do is to look around to see how much it will cost you, compared to the costs of buying and owning a home if you’re able. GOBankingRates has done part of the calculations for you if you’ll be renting in one of the nation’s 50 largest rental markets.

We’ve done this by analyzing Zillow’s rent data, with average rental costs for February 2024 as a starting point. In addition to converting those figures into rough costs for five years of renting, we’ve also included the cost of renting for the previous five years (February 2019 to February 2024) for perspective.

Some of the average monthly rental costs stretched out over five years may be eye-popping. Five years of renting in San Francisco will run you nearly $200,000. And that’s not the highest figure in our list. It’s also actually lower than the cost for the previous five years in the City by the Bay.

Here’s our full list, in reverse order from least to most expensive.

Also see the cost of renting vs. owning in every state.

• Average monthly rent: $1,241
• Cost of rent for next five years: $74,448
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $63,878

• Average monthly rent: $1,248
• Cost of rent for next five years: $74,874
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $66,264

• Average monthly rent: $1,271
• Cost of rent for next five years: $76,264
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $67,885

• Average monthly rent: $1,283
• Cost of rent for next five years: $77,002
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $67,061

• Average monthly rent: $1,300
• Cost of rent for next five years: $78,012
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $67,378

• Average monthly rent: $1,309
• Cost of rent for next five years: $78,542
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $68,872

• Average monthly rent: $1,342
• Cost of rent for next five years: $80,503
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $68,734

• Average monthly rent: $1,343
• Cost of rent for next five years: $80,606
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $68,960

• Average monthly rent: $1,358
• Cost of rent for next five years: $81,497
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $70,025

• Average monthly rent: $1,380
• Cost of rent for next five years: $82,822
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $72,958

• Average monthly rent: $1,381
• Cost of rent for next five years: $82,880
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $70,291

• Average monthly rent: $1,393
• Cost of rent for next five years: $83,557
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $77,898

• Average monthly rent: $1,440
• Cost of rent for next five years: $86,425
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $74,144

• Average monthly rent: $1,443
• Cost of rent for next five years: $86,556
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $73,783

• Average monthly rent: $1,450
• Cost of rent for next five years: $87,018
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $73,553

• Average monthly rent: $1,466
• Cost of rent for next five years: $87,985
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $79,043

• Average monthly rent: $1,511
• Cost of rent for next five years: $90,679
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $77,141

• Average monthly rent: $1,572
• Cost of rent for next five years: $94,335
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $87,234

• Average monthly rent: $1,597
• Cost of rent for next five years: $95,795
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $84,733

• Average monthly rent: $1,642
• Cost of rent for next five years: $98,523
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $87,827

• Average monthly rent: $1,644
• Cost of rent for next five years: $98,642
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $89,563

• Average monthly rent: $1,670
• Cost of rent for next five years: $100,200
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $89,412

• Average monthly rent: $1,677
• Cost of rent for next five years: $100,629
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $91,702

• Average monthly rent: $1,704
• Cost of rent for next five years: $102,263
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $94,496

• Average monthly rent: $1,710
• Cost of rent for next five years: $102,588
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $94,174

• Average monthly rent: $1,710
• Cost of rent for next five years: $102,593
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $92,790

• Average monthly rent: $1,711
• Cost of rent for next five years: $102,645
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $90,888

• Average monthly rent: $1,719
• Cost of rent for next five years: $103,158
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $97,875

• Average monthly rent: $1,748
• Cost of rent for next five years: $104,850
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $99,369

• Average monthly rent: $1,772
• Cost of rent for next five years: $106,310
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $93,989

• Average monthly rent: $1,806
• Cost of rent for next five years: $108,357
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $97,493

• Average monthly rent: $1,811
• Cost of rent for next five years: $108,665
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $92,752

• Average monthly rent: $1,854
• Cost of rent for next five years: $111,210
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $100,893

• Average monthly rent: $1,854
• Cost of rent for next five years: $111,235
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $97,451

• Average monthly rent: $1,934
• Cost of rent for next five years: $116,070
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $98,629

• Average monthly rent: $1,949
• Cost of rent for next five years: $116,912
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $108,337

• Average monthly rent: $1,962
• Cost of rent for next five years: $117,690
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $102,478

• Average monthly rent: $1,984
• Cost of rent for next five years: $119,022
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $109,527

• Average monthly rent: $2,072
• Cost of rent for next five years: $124,312
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $112,701

• Average monthly rent: $2,087
• Cost of rent for next five years: $125,198
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $113,043

• Average monthly rent: $2,179
• Cost of rent for next five years: $130,719
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $123,921

• Average monthly rent: $2,209
• Cost of rent for next five years: $132,563
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $119,921

• Average monthly rent: $2,425
• Cost of rent for next five years: $145,474
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $138,326

• Average monthly rent: $2,791
• Cost of rent for next five years: $167,489
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $156,702

• Average monthly rent: $2,963
• Cost of rent for next five years: $177,808
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $155,443

• Average monthly rent: $3,067
• Cost of rent for next five years: $183,999
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $150,794

• Average monthly rent: $3,107
• Cost of rent for next five years: $186,439
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $178,554

• Average monthly rent: $3,276
• Cost of rent for next five years: $196,576
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $201,321

• Average monthly rent: $3,359
• Cost of rent for next five years: $201,560
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $177,340

• Average monthly rent: $3,393
• Cost of rent for next five years: $203,570
• Cost of rent for previous five years: $183,539

Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates looked at Zillow rent data for February 2024 to find the following for the 50 largest rental markets: (1) February 2024 rent; (2) 5-year cost of rent taking figure (1) and multiplying it by 60; and (3) total rent for February 2019 through February 2024. All data was collected on and is up to date as of April 3, 2024.