These Cities Have the Cheapest Rent in the U.S.: August 2022

This past spring, new U.S. census data showed an increase in population movement away from major urban hubs to smaller cities for affordability and more space. These smaller cities experienced the highest annual population gain in more than a decade.

That population adjustment sent rents soaring through out the country, and many of these smaller cities saw a rise in their rental prices as well. Among this rise in the cost of living, swaths of the Midwest and South remain affordable with prices well below the national average in states including Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota and Texas.

There are 21 cities that have an average rent of $1,000 or less. Nearly 40 cities saw decreases in year-over-year rents, with 20 seeing decreases of over $100 a month and one that saw a dip of $1,243. Texas leads with three of the cheapest cities: Lubbock, Port Arthur and Victoria. The latter two are about two hours from Houston.

Rent. looked at the average rent, dollar increase and year-over-year percent change in every U.S. city with a population over 50,000 for a combination of one- and two-bedroom unit types. Below are several key takeaways from that data.

Takeaway No. 1: Springfield, MO, has the cheapest average rent in the U.S.

Springfield, also known as the birthplace of Route 66, is the home of Missouri State University, the state’s second-largest. The city only clocks in at about 167,000 residents and it carries the cheapest rent of any city in the nation by far.

The average rent in Springfield is just $662 a month, a decrease of $63 year-over-year. Apart from Wichita, KS, nine of the 10 cheapest cities for renters have less than 300,000 residents.

Port Arthur has the smallest population in the top 10 at 54,280 residents. The largest city in the top 30 again is El Paso, TX, ranked as the 14th cheapest city. Since last month, El Paso’s average rent decreased to $929 for its close to 700,000 residents.

San Antonio and Phoenix ranked 51 and 97, respectively, the top two largest cities on the list. Phoenix has a population of 1,680,992, making it the largest city among the cheapest U.S. cities. Rents in Phoenix have increased by more than $200 year-over-year, but remain at $1,578 a month on average.

Currently, 21 cities carry an average rent of less than $1,000 a month with Jonesboro, AR, having the cheapest average monthly rent in the South at $760 a month. Only 10 of the 100 cheapest cities are not in the South or Midwest.

Albany, NY, at No. 38, has the lowest average rent in the Northeast at $1,193. While Tucson, AZ, No. 47, again has the lowest rent in the West at $1,239 per month.

Takeaway No. 2: The sharpest decrease in average rent was in Pearland, TX

Pearland, TX, a suburb only 30 minutes outside of Houston, saw the sharpest decrease in average rent year-over-year. The city with a population of 122,460 saw rents for all units decrease by $1,243, now at $1,007 per month on average.

Ranking at No. 22, Pearland saw a 55 percent decrease in average rent year-over-year, the most in the country. The next highest drop came from St. Louis with a $560 drop in its average rent year-over-year, now at $1,359 per month.

In the top 20, only Wichita and El Paso remain less than $1,000 when looking at cities with over 300,000 residents. There were less significant drops for bigger cities overall. But 18 cities saw a monthly decrease of $348 or less.

Takeaway No. 3: Texas has the most cities with the cheapest rent

Texas takes the top spot for most cities with the cheapest rent — 18 cities are in our top 100 cities with three in the top 10. San Antonio, home to the Alamo, ranks No. 51 in our cheapest cities list with an average rent of $1,257 per month.

Seven cities, including Victoria, El Paso, Lubbock and Port Arthur, boast monthly rents of less than $1,000 per month. Fort Worth, on the 65th spot, has an average rent of $1,341 per month with almost a million residents.

North Carolina takes the No. 2 spot with 10 cities out of 100 cheapest rents in the nation. Cities like Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Greensboro made the list. All rents are less than $1,600 per month, on average.

Most North Carolina cities are in the bottom 50 since some like Burlington experienced an increase of $442 in rents year-over-year. Only one, High Point, remains in the top 20 cheapest cities. Over half of the top 100 — 55 cities — are in the Southern region.

In the West, only seven cities fall inside the top 100 — three in Arizona and the others spread through California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. In the Northeast, Albany and two Pennsylvania cities — Erie and Pittsburgh — were the only ones to make the top 100.

100 cheapest places to rent

Over half of the cheapest places to rent remain in the South, with most of them in the Lone Star state of Texas. The full list of 100 cheapest cities for renters will provide insight into other regions of the country.

Methodology

Rental data was pulled from Rent.’s multifamily rental property inventory for one- and two-bedroom units over August 2022 and August 2021. A single measure of price for all unit types per time period was calculated using a weighted average based on the number of available units. All cities with populations under 50,000 were excluded.

The U.S. Census divides the country into four geographic regions: Northeast (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont); Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin); South (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, District of Columbia and West Virginia) and West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Utah, Washington and Wyoming). The top 100 cities in our analysis were determined by U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

The rent information included in this article is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein do not constitute financial advice or a pricing guarantee for any apartment.