15 Cities Where Many Renters Pay Under $1,000 a Month

Finding an apartment in a major U.S. city for less than $1,000 per month has become more difficult lately, but in some metros, such as Oklahoma City and Pittsburgh, three-digit rent is still the norm.

In the country's 50 largest metropolitan areas, 32.1% of renters paid less than $1,000 per month in 2023, according to a report released last week by real estate company Redfin. (The analysis relies on Census data and counts apartments in buildings with at least five units.)

That share is down from about 50% in 2012.

“Rising rents have made it increasingly difficult for people to find housing in America,” Sheharyar Bokhari, senior economist at Redfin, said in the report.

Asking rents have increased 20% from pre-pandemic levels, with the median asking rent up to $1,634, according to Redfin. The lack of cheap apartments is creating challenges for lower-income residents: Folks on tight budgets are coping with high rents by living with more roommates or compromising for other less-than-ideal living situations (think longer commutes and less square footage.)

The good news? There are still many places that offer the mid-to-large size city lifestyle without the sky-high rents you'd see in San Diego or Miami.

The lowest-cost cities for renters

Here are the 15 cities with the highest share of rents under $1,000:

1. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 64.3%
2. New Orleans, Louisiana: 63.5%
3. Cleveland, Ohio: 63.4%
4. Louisville, Kentucky: 57.6%
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 55.8%
6. Buffalo, New York: 55.2%
7. Cincinnati, Ohio: 54.9%
8. St. Louis, Missouri: 53.9%
9. Memphis, Tennessee: 53.5%
10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 49.5%
11. Detroit, Michigan: 49.3%
12. Providence, Rhode Island: 47%
13. Indianapolis, Indiana: 46.7%
14. Birmingham, Alabama: 44%
15. Kansas City, Missouri: 43%

Cheap apartment listings are disappearing

The availability of sub-$1,000 rent deals is shrinking in some of America's more affordable cities.

The median rent in Cleveland, for example, was up 11.1% in a year as of last month, according to the report, which also mentions Cincinnati and Louisville as similar examples. These are cities people have flocked to recent years precisely because they're more affordable.

Two-fifths of the renters in these large metros who pay less than $1,000 monthly have lived in their current spot for at least five years, and you can't necessarily find those deals any more in the rental market. Redfin's analysis found that only 7.5% of apartment listings have asking rents under $1,000.

"Renters paying under $1,000 often stay put because moving would mean paying more,” the Redfin researchers wrote in the report.

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