Seattle rents have remained flat over the past month; however, they are up slightly by 1.2% year-over-year, according to Apartment List.
Currently, median rents in Seattle stand at $1,320 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,650 for a two-bedroom.
Seattle’s year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 1.5%, but exceeds the national average of 1.0%.
Rents rising across the Seattle Metro
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Seattle, but across the entire metro. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the Seattle metro, nine have seen prices rise. Here’s a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro:
- Bellevue has the most expensive rents in the Seattle metro, with a two-bedroom median of $2,320; the city has also seen rent growth of 4.3% over the past year, the fastest in the metro.
- Over the past year, Marysville is the only city in the metro that has seen rents fall, with a decline of 4.1%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,640, while one-bedrooms go for $1,320.
Other large cities nationwide show more affordable rents than Seattle
As rents have increased slightly in Seattle, a few other large cities nationwide have also seen rents grow modestly. Compared to most similar cities across the country, Seattle is less affordable for renters:
- Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, with Washington as a whole logging rent growth of 1.5% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 2.0% in Vancouver and 1.4% in Spokane.
- Seattle’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,650 is above the national average of $1,170. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.0% over the past year compared to the 1.2% rise in Seattle.
- While Seattle’s rents rose slightly over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.6%), Austin (+3.3%), and San Francisco (+2.7%).
- Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Seattle than in most other large cities. For example, Spokane has a median 2BR rent of $880, where Seattle is more than one-and-a-half times that price.
Methodology
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew towards luxury apartments, introducing sample bias. In order to address these limitations and provide the most accurate rent estimates available, we now start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate forward based on our own rental listing data, using a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, which compares only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Apartment List
Apartment List is a growing online apartment rental marketplace on a mission to make finding a home an easy and delightful process.
