The 25 Worst Rental Markets in the US Right Now

Home prices soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is one reason the rental market is hot at the moment. More people are renting who might have liked to buy, pushing rents in some locations higher. At the same time, some people are moving to the South to escape higher prices in northern cities — not to mention the desire for a warmer climate.

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These developments may in part explain the “worst” rental markets, which are almost all in the South. In these cities, rent prices have risen more rapidly than anywhere else in the country year-over-year, from Jan. 2021 to Jan. 2022.

It’s not all about the rents, however. GOBankingRates’ research considers other factors that make a city desirable, such as livability and crime rates. In other words, the cities in the very worst rental markets also often fare poorly in one, or both, of these areas.

Take a look at the data for each of these cities, going from the best (or least bad, if you prefer) to the worst rental markets in the U.S. right now.

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $501
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 28.16%
• Livability score: 88
• Overall crime rate: 5.41

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $441
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 25.59%
• Livability score: 83
• Overall crime rate: 15.61

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $438
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 26.12%
• Livability score: 83
• Overall crime rate: 15.47

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $440
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 30.58%
• Livability score: 86
• Overall crime rate: 15.81

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $486
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 30.32%
• Livability score: 85
• Overall crime rate: 15.80

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $682
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 25.36%
• Livability score: 81
• Overall crime rate: 9.91

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $522
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 30.28%
• Livability score: 79
• Overall crime rate: 13.72

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $490
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 27.22%
• Livability score: 78
• Overall crime rate: 23.34

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $539
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 29.89%
• Livability score: 78
• Overall crime rate: 13.60

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $574
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 33.74%
• Livability score: 81
• Overall crime rate: 10.06

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $531
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 28.02%
• Livability score: 76
• Overall crime rate: 13.83

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $407
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 30.22%
• Livability score: 74
• Overall crime rate: 21.92

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $639
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 26.47%
• Livability score: 76
• Overall crime rate: 9.95

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $404
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 31.15%
• Livability score: 74
• Overall crime rate: 22.99

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $390
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 30.95%
• Livability score: 74
• Overall crime rate: 25.20

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $720
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 26.76%
• Livability score: 80
• Overall crime rate: 16.55

Check Out: 20 Most Affordable Places To Live That Have Great Weather, Too

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $690
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 41.17%
• Livability score: 83
• Overall crime rate: 9.42

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $399
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 35.85%
• Livability score: 72
• Overall crime rate: 25.59

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $481
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 29.86%
• Livability score: 69
• Overall crime rate: 22.44

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $507
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 23.84%
• Livability score: 67
• Overall crime rate: 36.41

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $750
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 36.44%
• Livability score: 81
• Overall crime rate: 23.18

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $518
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 32.62%
• Livability score: 67
• Overall crime rate: 25.80

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $628
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 34.35%
• Livability score: 72
• Overall crime rate: 28.99

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $557
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 37.51%
• Livability score: 68
• Overall crime rate: 40.40

• YoY Change ($) in average rent: $932
• YoY Change (%) in average rent: 50.46%
• Livability score: 69
• Overall crime rate: 69.80

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Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates first looked at the year-over-year (January 2021 to January 2022) average rent for all cities with a population above 75,000 as sourced from Apartment List’s January 2022 data. With these cities isolated, GOBankingRates found the (1) percent change in average rent from January 2021 to January 2022 and the (2) numerical dollar change in average rent from January 2021 to January 2022. These two factors were scored and combined with the lowest score being best, the 25 cities with the highest score were qualified to be looked at further. With the 25 worst rental markets now isolated, GOBankingRates found each cities (3) livability score as sourced from AreaVibes and (4) crime rate per 1,000 residents as sourced from NeighborhoodScout. For the 25 qualifying cities factors (1) – (4) were scored and combined with the lowest score being best. All data was collected and is up to date as of March 1, 2022.