How Much Space You Can Rent for $1,200 in These 109 Texas Cities

• For $1,200, you’ll get about 25% more apartment space in Texas than the 711 square foot average in the 100 most populous U.S. cities.
• Of the 109 Texas cities included in our research, McAllen and Flower Mound had the largest and smallest apartments, respectively, for $1,200.
• Use the calculator at the end of the article to find out how much space you can rent in Texas, 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 Texas for $1,200, which is close to the state’s average monthly rent of $1,176. 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 Texas is a great place to call home, as most cities here offer rather spacious apartments. On average, you can get 895 sq. ft. of living space for $1,200 in the state, more than the 711 sq. ft. you can rent for the same amount in the top 100 most populous cities. This means that Texas apartments offer 25% more space for the same price.

We put together the following infographic, which compares apartment sizes in the 109 Texas cities included in our study. The size of the tiles represents the actual proportion of apartment space available for $1,200.

Throughout the state, the size of apartments you can rent on a $1,200 budget varies from 704 sq. ft. in Flower Mound to more than twice as much space in McAllen (1,417). Falling on opposite ends of our ranking, these two Texas cities are also located in opposite parts of the state at a 530 miles distance from one another, with Flower Mound in the North and McAllen in the South.

Top 5 Cities with Most Apartment Space for $1,200

McAllen, located in the McAllen metro, is where you can find the most apartment space in the state, of 1,417 sq. ft., for that fixed amount. The city has an average rent of $775 — one of the lowest in Texas — making this community of almost 142,000 people an affordable and desirable place to live in.

Meanwhile, $1,200 can also pay for generous amounts of square footage in other cities, like Brownsville (1,323) — which is near the border with Mexico —, as well as Harlingen (1,312), a city forty miles East of McAllen. Amarillo and Mission also made the top 5, with 1,301 sq. ft. and 1,239 sq. ft., respectively.

All of these cities boast local average rents between $749 and $901 — 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 $1,200

Conversely, the least space you can get for the same money in Texas 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, Flower Mound apartments — where rents go for an average of $1,586 a month — offer around 704 sq. ft. for $1,200.

Next up are Austin and Rockwall, both 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 Austin you get only 742 sq. ft. and in Rockwall apartments, only 767 sq. ft. for the monthly rent of $1,200.

The top 5 is closed by Grapevine and Farmers Branch apartments where the same amount will get you smaller apartments of 769 sq. ft. and 774 sq. ft., respectively. So, if you do decide to choose one of these cities, know that you’ll need to shell out between $1,398 and $1,586 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 $1,200 in the 4 Largest Texas Metros

Here’s how much space you can get for $1,200 in Texas’ top four largest metros:

In the Dallas metro, Greenville apartments tend to offer more living space for that money. Here, you can get 1,133 sq. ft. for the monthly rent of $1,200. Balch Springs and Lancaster also prove to be great cities to live in because the space you could get here would also be substantially large of 1,132 sq. ft. and 1,089 sq. ft., respectively.

Meanwhile, the cities that offer the least space in the Dallas metro are Flower Mound (704 sq. ft.), Rockwall (767) and Grapevine (769).

Apartments for rent in Dallas — the metro’s main city — come with 811 sq. ft. for the rental price of $1,200.

In the Houston metro, the top cities that offer the largest space for $1,200 are Clute (1,112 sq. ft.), Lake Jackson (1,101 sq. ft.) and Pasadena (1,100).

On the flipside, The Woodlands is where you’ll find the least space in the metro, of 797 sq. ft. However, living only 30 miles away from Houston does come with some perks.

Apartments for rent in Houston — the metro’s main city — come with 947 sq. ft. for the rental price of $1,200.

Converse apartments come with 1,000 sq. ft., the largest space you can get for the monthly rent of $1,200 in San Antonio metro. Universal City and San Antonio are also generous cities in terms of space, as they both offer more than 960 square feet for the same amount.

On the other hand, the least space in this area is found in New Braunfels, where you can get only 860 square feet, considerably less than the rest of the metro.

Round Rock offers the largest space in the Austin metro, of 893 sq. ft. for $1,200. It’s followed by Pflugerville and Kyle apartments, both boasting 851 sq. ft. of space.

Apartments for rent in Austin – the metro’s main city – come with the least space, of 742 sq. ft. for the same price.

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 109 Texas cities? Use the calculator below.

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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 1,928,000 market rate units and 8,300 multifamily properties across the entire state of Texas.
• The average apartment space per $1,200 of rent was calculated by dividing $1,200 by the average cost of rent per square foot in 109 Texas cities with a statistically relevant sample size of apartments.