The Most Popular Cities for Apartment Renters

What’s the most desired city for renters, as indicated by the highest search activity and some other factors, according to RentCafe.com? In April, the answer was Atlanta.

Kansas City, Mo., came in second, followed in third place by Albuquerque, based on listings from the same survey. Also noteworthy was Detroit’s fourth-place win since it represented the highest climb in rankings compared to just a month prior in March. It’s applauded for having made an impressive revival and experiencing increased growth. Fifth place went to New York City, despite its high cost of living.

Despite their very different locations, Atlanta, Kansas City and Albuquerque share some common denominators. All offer a mix of affordability, job opportunities and entertainment options that appeal to many renters. Each also offers something special:

• Atlanta attracts interest because of job opportunities as companies expand there or relocate. It ranked eighth nationwide for office leasing activity last year and is viewed as one of the country’s top tech towns. You also get lush lawns, dogwoods and azaleas in bloom come spring, baseball, art and Southern cooking as part of the package when you relocate.
• Kansas City appeals for its barbecue options, affordable housing, cost of living compared to other cities and new tech job options. And living in the middle of the country offers some real good reasons, too.
• Albuquerque appeals as its population has grown, abundance of outdoor activities and burgeoning entertainment business.
• Detroit jumped 84 spots for its fourth position win. The reason is supposedly its multiple billion-dollar construction projects, a focus on small business growth and revival of lifestyle. 

But what may matter just as much is that renting is now considered the new buying as high home prices and the spring market bring forth more renters trying to find the best roof for over their heads. Durham, N.C., may have come in tenth but that’s significant because of its growing job opportunities for tech and good food. It was lauded for having eight times as many apartments versus a year ago.

Other cities that made the top 30 are also worth calling out, all large urban hubs and in the Northeast corridor. In fact, there were more Northeastern cities on April’s list of highest rental activity. Philadelphia came in 13th with apartment hunters adding five times more available rentals to their favorites list compared to last year and doubling the rate of saved personalized searches there. Boston was 19th after the number of apartments added to renters’ favorites lists tripled from a year ago. And Chicago moved to 16 as its number of listings added to favorites quadrupled in the past year. Such high demand translated to a 10% drop in availability, however. While cold, it offers living by a gorgeous lake, having a multitude of great museums and neighborhoods with distinct character and a great food scene beyond deep-dish pizza.

The report led to lots of other interesting facts: one-third of the top 30 in April consisted of new entries, including Minneapolis at 11th, Long Beach, Calif., Richmond, Birmingham and Virginia Beach, Va.

To develop this list, the company analyzed millions of interactions to see which of the largest 150 cities in the country are experiencing the most listing activity and attracting the most attention from apartment lookers. The report focused on four indicators: availability of apartments, listing views, apartments saved as favorites and saved personalized searches. But it also weighed changes from a year ago. RentCafé says going forward it will update information monthly.