- For $1,100, you’ll get about 43% more apartment space in Michigan than the 651 square foot average in the 100 most populous U.S. cities.
- Of the 63 Michigan cities included in our research, Flint and Ann Arbor had the largest and smallest apartments, respectively, for $1,100.
- Use the calculator at the end of the article to find out how much space you can rent in Michigan, whatever your budget.
Undeniably, space is something that we all came to appreciate in the past year during the pandemic, as it became increasingly more important for everyone, especially apartment dwellers.
So, RentCafe analysts reviewed how much space you could rent across Michigan for $1,100, which is close to the state’s average monthly rent of $1,066. Based on Yardi Matrix data — and a bit of research — we’ve highlighted the cities where apartments offer the most and least bang for your buck.
It turns out that Michigan is a great place to call home, as most cities here offer rather spacious apartments. On average, you can get 934 sq. ft. of living space for $1,100 in the state, more than the 651 sq. ft. you can rent for the same amount in the top 100 most populous cities. This means that Michigan apartments offer 43% more space for the same price.
We put together the following infographic, which compares apartment sizes in the 63 Michigan cities included in our study. The size of the tiles represents the actual proportion of apartment space available for $1,100.
Throughout the state, the size of apartments you can rent on a $1,100 budget varies from 608 sq. ft. in Ann Arbor to more than twice as much space in Flint (1,403). Notably, although they fall on opposite ends of our ranking, these two Michigan cities are located only 50 miles from one another.
Top 5 Cities with Most Apartment Space for $1,100
Flint, located 70 miles away from Detroit, is where you can find the most apartment space in the state, of 1,403 sq. ft., for that fixed amount. The city has an average rent of $679 — one of the lowest in Michigan — making this community of almost 97,000 people an affordable place to live in.
Meanwhile, $1,100 can also pay for generous amounts of square footage in other cities, like Taylor (1,269) — a suburb of Detroit —, as well as Battle Creek (1,174), a city sixty miles South-East of Grand Rapids. Davison and Jackson also made the top 5, with 1,145 sq. ft. and 1,134 sq. ft., respectively.
All of these cities boast local average rents between $679 and $846 — below the state’s average — making them great choices for those looking for ample apartment space and lower rents.
Top 5 Cities with Least Apartment Space for $1,100
Conversely, the least space you can get for the same money in Michigan is usually in cities where rents are higher, but overall the quality of apartments is better and they are generally considered to be more desirable locations. For example, Ann Arbor apartments — where rents go for an average of $1,595 a month — offer around 608 sq. ft. for $1,100.
Next up are Dearborn and Detroit, both in the Detroit Metro and among the cities in the state where you get less space for that money, but you’ll live in some of the most sought-after locations. Specifically, in Dearborn you get only 777 sq. ft. and in Detroit apartments, only 790 sq. ft. for the monthly rent of $1,100.
The top 5 is closed by East Lansing and Royal Oak apartments where the same amount will get you smaller apartments of 797 sq. ft. and 808 sq. ft., respectively. So, if you do decide to choose one of these cities, know that you’ll need to shell out between $1,110 and $1,595 for the monthly rent. On the plus side, you’ll be enjoying better locations, so that’s definitely something worth considering.
What You Can Rent for $1,100 in the 3 Largest Michigan Metros
Here’s how much space you can get for $1,100 in Michigan’s top three largest metros:
In the Detroit metro, Taylor apartments tend to offer more living space for that money. Here, you can get 1,269 sq. ft. for the monthly rent of $1,100. Roseville and Brownstown Township also prove to be great cities to live in because the space you could get here would also be substantially large of 1,095 sq. ft. and 1,093 sq. ft., respectively.
Meanwhile, the cities that offer the least space in the Detroit metro are Dearborn (777 sq. ft.), Detroit (790) and Royal Oak (808).
In the Grand Rapids metro, the top cities that offer the largest space for $1,100 are Comstock Park (1,038 sq. ft.), Kentwood (1,001 sq. ft.) and Grandville (968).
On the flipside, Grand Rapids is where you’ll find the least space in the metro, of 835 sq. ft. However, its healthy job market and beautiful scenery make this location more than ideal.
Haslett apartments come with 1,133 sq. ft., the largest space you can get for the monthly rent of $1,100 in Lansing metro. Holt and Lansing are also generous cities in terms of space, as they both offer more than 1,030 square feet for the same amount.
On the other hand, the least space in this area is found in East Lansing, where you can get only 797 square feet, considerably less than the rest of the metro.
See How Much Space You Can Get on Your Budget
Want to find out how much space you can afford based on your budget in these 63 Michigan cities? Use the calculator below.
What apartment size can you rent on your budget?
Methodology
- This report was prepared by RentCafe, a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States.
- To compile this report, we analyzed average rent price and apartment size data provided by Yardi Matrix, RentCafe’s sister company that researches and reports on large-scale multifamily properties of 50+ units. Yardi Matrix is 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.
- State average rent and apartment size information is based on data for 328,000 market rate units and 1,700 multifamily properties across the entire state of Michigan.
- The average apartment space per $1,100 of rent was calculated by dividing $1,100 by the average cost of rent per square foot in 63 Michigan cities with a statistically relevant sample size of apartments.