American renters: 5 cities where they stay and 5 they’re flocking to

American renters’ top‑choice cities

After three years of shrinking rents, the median asking price in the nation’s 50 largest metros fell ↓ 1.5% to $1,686 in May, according to Realtor.com. The dip reflects a broader shift from the pandemic‑driven exodus toward a more measured flow of households.

Local search activity reveals where renters are staying. Las Vegas tops the list, with ↑ 70% of online rental queries originating within the metro, followed closely by Austin, San Antonio, Houston and San Diego. Houston’s local‑search share jumped 11 % since 2020, signaling a renter‑friendly environment.

“The combination of softer rents, higher vacancy and robust job growth keeps residents rooted,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.

Conversely, Raleigh recorded the highest out‑of‑town interest, with nearly 70 % of views coming from beyond the metro—a 10 % rise since 2020. Hartford, Providence, Richmond and Baltimore showed similar patterns, attracting renters priced out of nearby hubs such as New York and Washington.

San Francisco remains an outlier: rents rose 1.2 % year‑over‑year while local search volume fell, as the AI‑driven wealth surge pushes more tenants into homeownership, according to economist Jiayi Xu.

Legal scrutiny adds another layer. The Justice Department’s suit against Greystar and peers alleges coordinated rent‑setting algorithms, a factor that may have suppressed the recent decline.

Affordability remains fragile: by 2024, half of U.S. renters spent over 30 % of income on housing, a threshold that strains budgets for transportation, food and health care. For a full data set, see the Reuters analysis.

Reported by Dominic Mercer (Global Real Estate Strategist).