Washington Apartment Dwellers Pay Some Of Highest Rent In U.S.: Report

SEATTLE — Five Washington cities were ranked among the nation's most expensive for renters, including one Eastside city that landed in the top 10. The online rental search engine Rent.com identified American cities with the highest rents, and many of the priciest are located around major technology hubs.

The same is true in Washington, and Redmond was far ahead of the pack, where residents now pay the eighth highest apartment rents in the country, the rental firm found. The average rent paid in Remond was $4,222 this past June, a whopping 86 percent increase over the year before, according to the report of the 100 most expensive cities to rent.

Tacoma came in at 55th on the list, edging out Seattle with an average apartment rental price of $2,783 — nearly 26 percent higher than in 2021. Seattle ranked 60th in the nation, with an average rent of $2,689, a 17.3 percent increase. Everett followed directly behind, logging a 57 percent increase for a new average rental price of $2,679. Vancouver rounded out Washington's placement on the list, ranking 90th, with an average rental price of $2,023.

For its analysis of the cities with the highest rent, the online company pulled data from its multifamily rental inventory for one- and two-bedroom units from June 2021 to June 2022. Cities with populations under 50,000 were excluded.

Renters in cities in the South and West with warm climates are paying some of the highest rent in the country as the most expensive rental markets have shifted, the report said.

Jersey City, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has the highest rent — about $5,500 a month, up from $3,308 a month in June 2021. That’s an increase of more than 66 percent, the third-highest rate of increase in the analysis.

Boston, where the average rental rate rose to $4,878 in June 2022 from $4,164 a year prior, has the second-highest rent in the country. Rent increased 17 percent over the year, a modest increase when compared to much of the rest of the country.

The No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 cities for the highest rent are all in California— Palo Alto, Glendale and Santa Monica, respectively. Each saw double-digit rent hikes.

Although Boston’s 66 percent jump in rent prices was high, two other cities saw higher increases. Rents in Pflugerville, Texas, an Austin suburb, jumped more than 126 percent last year, and Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, where rents increased just over 86 percent.

Both Austin and Seattle have thriving technology businesses. The report said many of the cities where rent is highest are near major technology hubs. The industry’s high salaries and consistent growth during the pandemic kept the rents high and the supply of rental housing low in those markets, according to the report.

The average rent declined in nine cities, but they’re still among the places with the highest rent in the country, according to the report. For example:

Rent in Hollywood, Florida, decreased 19.10 percent, but the average rent there was still $1,982 in June. Rent decreased an average of 5 percent over the year in Reno, Nevada, where the average rent was $1,936 in June.