The Most Competitive Rental Markets Right Now

We calculated the most competitive rental markets in the U.S. right now, using our rental data as well as the Q2 vacancy rates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on February 5, 2025. The Hartford, CT metro area came out on top.

Sometimes, competition in a real estate market can feel sudden — especially in the case of “second cities” that offer a more affordable, renter-friendly option to those priced out of notoriously expensive primary cities like New York or Boston. Prices start rising quickly, the number of days apartments are on the market plummets, and renting becomes much more stressful for locals and transplants alike. It feels like it happens out of nowhere, but the signs start appearing months — even years — in advance. Over time, vacancy rates decrease as the number of prospective renters trickling into the market increase. At the same time, new construction stagnates while the price renters pay per square foot increases, until it starts to feel impossible to find a rental property in a market where they used to be plentiful.

For this report, we found the most competitive rental markets in America. We analyzed 75 of the largest metro areas in the United States, creating a competitiveness score for each metro area based on its vacancy rate, average time on market of apartment listings, and median cost per square foot, based on our own rental data as well as data from the U.S. Census. We also considered year-over-year trends, looking at how the competitiveness score and median cost per square foot has changed when compared with 2023. As explained in our methodology, total scores are a weighted average of these metrics, with the highest scores being most competitive. 

Below, we've highlighted the top 10 metro areas on our list. You can find the full-ranked list of all 74 metro areas we looked at here. 

Major metro areas on the East Coast are often defined by their exclusivity. Limited housing supply, high demand, and rapidly rising rent prices are a constant in the hottest rental markets (Think: New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C.) As these hubs have become less and less accessible to the average renter over the years, many have decided that it just isn’t worth it to live in them. Instead, savvy renters have moved into nearby commuter cities that offer cheaper rent prices, more space for their money, and easy train rides to the major cities of their dreams. Think: New Yorkers moving to Connecticut, Bostonians moving to Providence, and Washingtonians moving to Baltimore.

However, as these housing markets skyrocket in popularity, it’s becoming harder and harder for renters to have their cake and eat it, too; rents are increasing, vacancy is decreasing, and finding a coveted spot in the perfect commuter city is becoming much more competitive. Last quarter, four out of the 10 most competitive markets in the U.S. were Northeast commuter cities.

Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT was the No. 1 most competitive rental market in Q4 2024. That’s right — according to our study, it was harder to find an apartment in Greater Hartford than Greater NYC.

In the back half of 2024, the Hartford metro area suffered from a severe lack of available inventory, with an average vacancy rate hovering around 3.3% — the fourth lowest on our list and almost an entire point lower than the Big Apple. This is a big lapse in available inventory when compared with the same time last year, when the vacancy rate was closer to 4.75%. Another indicator of competitiveness is the change in the average time on market: Compared to last year, rentals were on the market for 22% less time on average this year.

At the same time, rent increased dramatically. Greater Hartford had the largest year-over-year rent increase of any metro area on our list — jumping nearly 25%, from a median asking rent price of $1,200 to $1,498 a month.

It’s a similar story in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT metro area, which placed No. 9 on our list of most competitive rental markets. Vacancy rates in the metro area decreased, costs increased, and days on market dropped.

The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD metro area was ranked the No. 3 most competitive rental market this year — a huge jump up from its place at No. 45 on our Q2 2024 list. An aging housing stock, a slew of zoning laws that are less-than-friendly to new multifamily development, and a lack of both affordable and mid-range housing options have created a competitive market in Greater Baltimore. Not to mention, the city is just a 35-minute commute to Washington, D.C. by train and, even with its rent increases, still a much cheaper option than the nation’s capital.

In our last three competitive city reports, the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA area remained steadily in the bottom of our top 20 list while the Greater Boston metro area inched its way up the top 10. This quarter, however, the two metro areas have swapped places. In Q4 2024, the Providence metro area took the No. 5 spot while the Boston area slipped down to No. 15.

This is largely due to the fact that Boston’s median rent price remained stable YoY while Providence saw a nearly $200 increase YoY in the median asking rent price for a one-bedroom apartment. This is not uncommon when looking at primary and secondary cities; more affordable secondary cities often see spikes in rent when rent prices in nearby primary cities hit their peak, pricing out renters.

Below is the full-ranked list of all 74 cities we analyzed.

For this report, we analyzed 75 of the most populated metro areas (MSAs) in the U.S. (per the U.S. Census Bureau) for which all required data was available.

The metrics used to create the “Competitive Score” were the averaged Q4 2024 and Q3 2024 vacancy rates, the estimated average time on market of apartments in the MSAs, and the median cost per square foot of an apartment in the MSA. To compute the score, these metrics were normalized and combined using a weighted average.

To create the “Competitive Trend Score,” we took the normalized difference between the Q4 2023 Competitive Score and the Q4 2024 Competitive Score.

To create the “Price Trend Score,” we took the normalized difference between the Q4 2024 median cost per square foot of an apartment in the MSA and the Q4 2023 median cost per square foot.

The vacancy rate data came from the U.S. Census Bureau. Time on market and cost per square foot data came from ApartmentAdvisor. We used a min/max data normalization approach.

The Overall Score was calculated with a weighted average of the Q4 2024 Competitive Score (60% weight), the normalized year-over-year competitive score change from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024 (30% weight), and the normalized year-over-year median cost per square foot change from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024 (10% weight). The highest final score is considered the “most competitive.” The Final Rank is calculated by ranking the metro areas where the highest final score is the most competitive.

For more information about this study, please contact pr@apartmentadvisor.com.