America’s Most Expensive ZIP Codes for Renters in 2018

Much like outside temperatures, rents usually peak toward the middle of summer, and this year it really is scorching out there. Urban areas are usually considered more expensive, with cities like Washinton, DC, Seattle, Chicago, or Denver experiencing some of the highest rises in monthly rent.  The U.S. average rent has reached $1,409 in July—an all-time high, making renters nostalgic for the $1,370 recorded last July.

In order to identify the most expensive ZIP code areas, we compared average apartment rents for all ZIP codes in 130 major U.S. markets from Yardi Matrix.

Where Is It More Expensive to Rent Than in Manhattan?

If you want the short answer: nowhere. Not in the U.S. at least, and not if you compare averages. A stunning 26 out of the 50 ZIP codes with the most expensive average rents in the country are located in Manhattan.

Right off the bat, the winner and the runner-up for the “Most Expensive Area for Renting” are both Manhattan ZIP codes. 10282 and 10013 cover the sought-after Lower Manhattan area including the Rockefeller Park area of Battery Park City as well as the lower end of SoHo, most of TriBeCa and the western blocks of Chinatown. In fact, 10282 kept its top position in spite of the fact that the average rental price decreased to $5,657, a 1.8% drop since July of 2017.

50 Most Expensive ZIP Codes — 2018

Table by RentCafe.com

But let’s just put it this way: there are a handful of places where rents compete with all but the priciest of Manhattan neighborhoods. ZIP code 90024 in Los Angeles, covering most of the Westwood neighborhood around the UCLA campus ranks as the third most expensive ZIP code in the U.S., having registered an average rent of $4,883 in July, 3.2% higher than in the same period last year.

ZIP code 94105—including parts of The East Cut neighborhood in San Francisco—completes the short list of non-Manhattan areas that made the top 10, ranking 6^th with a monthly average rent of $4,666. Boston’s 02199 (#11 with $4,439), 90048 covering most of Beverly Grove in Los Angeles (#12 with $4,391),  94158 in San Francisco’s Mission Bay (#14 with $4,336) and 94925 covering the North Bay area of Corte Madera (#18 with $4,290) also join several Manhattan zips to make up the top 20.

Take a look at the 10 most expensive Manhattan ZIPs for renters on the map below:

NYC is also represented this year by Brooklyn with 11201 claiming 38^th place coming in at a $3,702 monthly average

A few parts of Silicon Valley claimed 7 spots among the 50 most expensive areas for renting, including ZIP code 94063 (Redwood City), 94025 (Menlo Park), 94043 and 94040 (Mountain View), 94404 (San Mateo), 95014 (Cupertino) and 94085 (Sunnyvale), with apartments costing between $4,025 (#26) and $3,609 (#47) in average rent per month. The Bay Area has another strong contender in ZIP code 94704 (#45), covering parts of Downtown and Southside Berkeley, where a monthly $3,616 counts as an average price.

Not only Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach is also popular, if apartment prices are anything to go by. ZIP code 90094 in Playa Vista, at 37^th place with an average rent of $3,808, followed by 90401 in Santa Monica with an average rent of $3,682 (#40), and Marina Del Rey’s 90292 coming in at $3,642 (#44).

The average rent of $3,610 has landed ZIP code 02141 in Cambridge, MA in 46^th place nationally.

Looking for cheap rent? These locations offer apartments for less than $600

While some Manhattan ZIPs will command four times the national average rent without much in the way of indecision, there are plenty of urban areas where you can easily find a decent apartment for less than half, or even a third, of it. ZIP codes 67213, 67211 and 67218 in Wichita, KS, all have average rents under $470. Other spots with rents below $500, include Memphis, TN, with three ZIP codes, and most of the city of Decatur, AL. Southern and Midwestern markets are prevalent at the bottom of the list.  Out west, rents tend to be higher, but Tucson, Arizona’s 85711 ZIP code features an average of  $571, the cheapest rents west of Wichita.

If you find the idea of paying less rent than half of the U.S. average rent tempting enough to consider relocating, browse the list below where we collected the ZIP codes with average rents under $600. Click on the column headers or use the search bar to sort and filter the entries.

ZIP Codes with Average Rents Below $600 — 2018

Table by RentCafe.com

Methodology

• This study uses the actual rent charged in apartment buildings with 50 or more rental units, located in over 130 U.S. markets, totaling approximately 15 million apartment units.
• ZIP codes with less than 200 rental units and less than 3 properties were not included in the study.
• Average rent prices are as of July 2018.
• Rent data provided by our sister company Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self-storage sectors. For more information, visit https://www.yardimatrix.com/.