The Most Affordable Rental Markets in the U.S.

Among the 50 biggest metros in the U.S. at the end of last year, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Oklahoma City were deemed the three most affordable markets for renters earning the local area's median income.

For a median-priced rental, renters should expect to pay roughly 29 percent of their income. In Pittsburgh, the share of income spent on rent is only 21.6 percent on a $1,063 median monthly payment, per Zillow's data. Even in Charlotte, N.C., ranked tenth in the list, the median monthly rent is $1,297, and the share of income allocated for rent is 24.8 percent. As some may expect, many California rental markets are among the worst for affordability, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Affordability is a relative concept in housing. Markets that seem affordable because their median rent is on the low side may actually be unaffordable to people who live there. For that reason, we measure affordability by the share of median income that residents pay for an area’s median rent. For reference, a renter earning the U.S. median household income and living in the typical U.S. home should expect to pay 28.9 percent of their income on rent.

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