Renters are really struggling to save anything after paying their monthly rent costs, which are up 1.5 percent across the United States. A two-bedroom rental is averaging $1,180 per month.
Apartment List's Rent Report shows the rental cost increase is lagging from the 2017-18 and 2016-17 increases, but the rate in 2016-17 had soared 2.5 percent. The national median has essentially stayed flat from last June until March 2019, Apartment List says.
The biggest metros experiencing rent growth are Las Vegas and Phoenix. Other fastest-growing rent areas include Austin, Texas; Raleigh, North Carolina; Aurora, Colorado and San Jose, California.
Henderson, Nevada is seeing the fastest growing rent growth, Apartment List reports.
The State of California's median rental cost for a two-bedroom rental is $1,832. Washington, D.C. is just under that with $1,713 as the cost per month.
The lowest rental cost for a two-bedroom currently is Anniston, Alabama with a median of $437 per month, followed by Waterloo, Iowa with $625 per month, Apartment List reports.
Data collected by Newsweek also shows rent prices are wildly different depending on where a person lives.
A break down of prices by Forbes shows the biggest cities have the highest rental prices, with San Francisco, Boston and Manhattan topping the list. The average rental in San Francisco is north of $3,500. That's for one bedroom. In Manhattan, the average one bedroom is costing renters north of $3,000 monthly.
What we're earning
The U.S. Census Bureau's latest report on median household income was in 2017 and shows it was $61,372. There is a "deep chasm between affluent and poor parts of the country," Investopedia says. Americans in the South are bringing in the lowest household incomes, with a median of $51,174 per year.
Simply put, the cost of living across the United States has skyrocketed, while wages have remained stagnant. This means more income is going toward housing, and for renters dealing with soaring monthly rent prices, it's making it tougher to save to purchase homes.
The Wall Street Journal reports there are startups partnering with rental companies to offer loans to recent college grads and millennials who need lower annual interest rates. It's especially helping people pay high deposits on rentals.
The pitfall, the WSJ says, may be that these loans might encourage renters to live beyond their means, especially in large cities.
Outstanding consumer credit exceeded $4 trillion for the first time last year, the Federal Reserve said.
