Zumper is back again with their monthly national rent report and yet again Seattle comes in 10th on their list of highest median rents among major cities in November. The median price of a 1-BR according to them is $1,710/month, which is up a bit from last month's $1,660. The median 2-BR will run you $2,320/month, which is up even more from October's $2,200. All of this keeps with the national trend, which saw rents in 39 of the 50 largest cities go up month over month.
As Seattlish reminds us, if you want to be able to afford that $1,710/month 1-BR, you need to make $61,650 to not be considered "financially-burdened." That number is only slightly lower than Seattle's median income ($70K).
Seattle's Central Business District (a.k.a. Downtown) continues to be the most expensive area in the city to rent with a median 1-BR cost of $2,530/month. That's a slight increase from last month.
When Zumper expands their numbers to include all cities, Bellevue continues to hold its own as one of the most expensive places to rent in the U.S. However, for some odd reason, median 1-BR rent plummeted from $2,200 to $1,760. That puts it just barely ahead of Seattle, Kirkland also saw a significant drop from $1,710 to $1,600. Redmond dropped out of the Top 100 altogether.
This is the part where we mention that Zumper's data is drawn solely from the asking rents for the listings on its site, not all available rentals in Seattle and surrounding cities. Therefore, it isn't a measure of what all Puget Sounders are paying, but it does offer one look at prices that prospective renters in the market are seeing.
· Zumper National Rent Report: November 2015 [Zumper]
· Seattle Again Has 10th Most Expensive Median Rent in U.S. [CS]
· You Need to Make $62k to Rent a One Bedroom Apartment [ish]