One might think that renting an apartment for less than $1,000 per month in 2025 would be unrealistic. However, new research from Zillow shows that it's actually quite common in parts of the South and Midwest.
According to researchers, rents are rising faster than household incomes, leading more Americans to spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing — the widely recognized limit of affordability. Nationwide, average monthly rent has risen more than 50 percent over the past decade, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Meanwhile, median household income grew by less than 20 percent between 2014 and 2024 (the most recent 10-year data available).
In popular East Coast markets such as Boston, Miami and Washington, DC, less than 2 percent of home listings are priced under $1,000. But in 13 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, more than a third of available housing units rent for $1,000 a month or less. In Wichita, Kansas, and McAllen, Texas, the number is more than half. In Little Rock, Arkansas, Toledo, Ohio, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's not quite half that.
Apartment hunters have much more opportunity to secure the elusive $1,000 monthly rent when they live with roommates: Zillow found that the average monthly rent for a single room was less than $1,000 in 86 of the 100 U.S. metro areas surveyed.
Even renting an entire house becomes easier with shared use. In 36 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, two roommates could rent a median-priced single-family home for less than $1,000 per person. In Toledo, Wichita, Little Rock and Dayton, Ohio, the average rent for a single-family home is less than $1,500 per month.