Renters Can Keep Their Own Counsel in These U.S. Cities

For many renters, affording an apartment without a roommate can be hard or impossible. Renters will have the easiest time in these 10 cities (none of which are on the coasts), per the latest SmartAsset study.

Looking at median rents, unemployment rates, the share of vacant studio and one-bedroom apartments in a city's overall housing stock, median earnings, and overall cost of living, SmartAsset concluded that living in one's own apartment is within affordable reach in eight Midwestern cities, and in Lexington and Louisville, Ky. Cincinnati, Ohio topped the list, as the average renter in a studio or one-bedroom apartment is only paying $575 on rent per month, and the overall cost of living is more than 3 percent less than the national average.

Midsize cities in Virginia and California rank low. In cities like Virginia Beach and Chesapeake in Virginia, renters hoping to live alone will face two challenges: high rents and there a limited number of suitable places to live alone. California cities like Riverside and Fresno also rank poorly. While big cities tend to come with high rents, they also tend to come with plenty of studio and one-bedroom places. In San Francisco, for example, nearly 39 percent of homes are studios or one bedrooms. In Boston, that figure is 31.5 percent. The city with the largest supply of studios or one-bedroom homes is Washington, D.C.

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