How Much Apartment Space Does $1,500 Get You in 200 U.S. Cities?

Renters looking for a spacious apartment on a budget in a big city should immediately head to the South. That’s because more than half of the top 20 large cities offering the most apartment space for a monthly rent of $1,500 are in the Southeast and Southwest. The remaining are all in the Midwest — an area renowned for its balanced mix of affordability, jobs and spacious living.

So, in a bid to ease the mission of apartment hunters in the heat of high renting season, we’re launching our most recent list of cities where renters can rent the most space on a monthly budget of $1,500. Specifically, we ranked 200 U.S. cities using apartment data from our sister company Yardi Matrix.

Although the South and Midwest offer more generous terms, major coastal job hubs are places where renters on a fixed budget need to sacrifice square footage to benefit from the countless opportunities these areas offer. In places like Manhattan, NY; Brooklyn, NY; and Boston, $1,500 per month provides entry into some of the nation’s most dynamic neighborhoods — albeit with cozier living spaces.

Nationwide, renters get 729 square feet of space for a monthly rent of $1,500. However, in 62% of the 200 largest cities in the country, apartment seekers get more space than the national average.

Wichita leads the largest cities for most apartment space available for $1,500 per month

If you’re looking for a spacious rental in a big city and you have a limited budget, Wichita, KS, and Toledo, OH, are your best shots at finding an apartment to match your needs. Zooming in, Wichita offers a generous 1,359 square feet of living space for a monthly rent budget of $1,500. Also in the Midwest, Toledo came in second on our list of big cities with the best deals by offering 1,345 square feet for $1,500, which is enough for three or even four bedrooms.

Next are a few locations in the South with Oklahoma City in the lead. Here, renters can get 1,302 square feet for a monthly rental rate of $1,500, which typically means a three-bedroom rental. This is one more reason for renters to start searching for a new place in OKC, in addition to overall affordability and jobs created by its investment programs. Staying in-state, Tulsa, OK, is another city where renters get close to 1,300 square feet for a monthly budget of $1,500 — 1,277 square feet, to be exact.

Further east, soulful Memphis, TN, was fifth on our list of cities offering the most space for $1,500 with a spacious 1,257 square feet. This is typically the equivalent of a three-bedroom apartment, which is perfect for renters with families or couples looking for more space and comfort.

Other large cities offering more than 1,000 square feet on a monthly budget that’s below the national average rent include Indianapolis; Greensboro, NC; Kansas City, MO; Columbus, OH; and St. Louis, MO. However, it’s Texas that stands out with three names at the top of our list of cities offering the most apartments space for a rental rate of $1,500 — Lubbock, El Paso and Corpus Christi.

California, East Coast big cities offer least space for a monthly rent budget of $1,500

Renter life in popular big cities offering thrilling entertainment, tech jobs and brilliant arts and culture comes with a price tag — often accompanied by limited apartment space. Take Manhattan, for example. The borough tops the list of places where $1,500 gets you the least rental space, offering a mere 228 square feet. Next is another New York City borough: In Brooklyn, that same monthly budget gets renters 300 square feet, which could be the equivalent of a really tight studio.

Speaking of the Big Apple, Queens is also among the places where a budget of $1,500 will get renters less than 400 square feet — 370 square feet, to be precise. That’s below the typical square footage of a studio in New York City’s largest borough. Nearby is Jersey City, NJ — one of the most competitive rental markets in the Northeast — which rounded out the top five cities offering the fewest square feet within that same budget. Here, apartment seekers can get 340 square feet for $1,500 per month.

Moving up the East Coast, Boston offers renters about 315 square feet for that same amount, which is not enough for a studio rental.

Across the country, major cities on the West Coast have similar circumstances. For example, in San Francisco, that same budget will rent a mere 334 square feet, whereas, in Irvine, CA, renters could get 436 square feet. Los Angeles; San Jose, CA; and San Diego were next on our list, all offering apartment hunters about 440 square feet for a rental rate of $1,500, which translates to a small studio apartment.

Seattle; Washington, D.C.; Chicago and Miami are also among the major cities offering the least apartment space for $1,500 per month. Of the four, Miami offers the most floor space for that budget at 533 square feet.

Small Southern cities dominate list of most apartment space for $1,500; Columbus, GA, ranks highest

Renters looking for a comfortable life in a small city and prioritizing apartment space for a limited budget should head south — more precisely, to Columbus, GA. Here, renters get a whopping 1,432 square feet for a monthly rent of $1,500. Another option is McAllen, TX, offering about the same square footage within the same budget, enough for a four-bedroom apartment.

Next on our list is another Georgia gem — Macon. In this charming, historical city, renters get 1,369 square feet for $1,500 per month. This pushed Macon up two more spots on our list since last year, when it ranked fifth among smaller cities offering the most apartment space.

Jackson, MS, followed with 1,365 square feet for a rent budget of $1,500, followed by Akron, OH, with 1,316 square feet. In this Midwestern city, this usually translates to a generous four-bedroom apartment.

Notably, Texas has four locations among the top 20 small cities offering the most apartment space for $1,500. In addition to McAllen, Amarillo, Brownsville and Pasadena also offer renters more than 1,100 square feet within the same budget.

California reigns as top state for small cities where $1,500 stretches the least

This year, California cities stood out on both of our lists of big and small cities where a monthly rent budget of $1,500 doesn’t go far. To that point, Silicon Valley’s Sunnyvale, CA, was the nation’s top small city where this budget gets renters the least space — 406 square feet, to be exact.

Two more California cities followed close behind — neighboring Pasadena and Glendale, just north of Los Angeles. In these places, a budget of $1,500 per month gets you 427 and 444 square feet, respectively. Nearby, Huntington Beach rounded out our top five with 483 square feet for a rent of $1,500. In fact, the Golden State had 16 cities among the top 20 small towns offering the least apartment space, including Fullerton, Oceanside and Oxnard, all of which offer renters around 500 square feet for a monthly budget of $1,500.

Another place that deserves a mention here is Yonkers, NY, which ranked fourth on our list. Renters in this city get 480 square feet for that same budget, which usually translates to a one-bedroom apartment or a really compact two-bedroom unit.

Check out the top 10 cities that offer the most space for $1,500, broken down by state:

Methodology

RentCafe.com is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States.

The apartment space you can rent for a monthly budget of $1,500 was calculated using price per square foot derived from the average rents and average size of apartments by city, in multifamily properties of 50 or more units using Yardi Matrix data. To calculate the national values, we included all the markets covered by Yardi Matrix.

Apartment data for New York City was available for three boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

The analysis includes 200 largest cities in the contiguous U.S. by population, based on the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

We defined large cities as those cities that have a population of more than 225,000, while small cities are those with less than 225,000 inhabitants.

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