Average rent in United States
As of September 2026, the typical asking rent in the United States metro area is $1,932 per month, up 2.7% from a year ago — 29% above the US metro average of $1,498.
Figures cover all property types — single-family, condo and apartment — at every bedroom count. The interactive map can break rents down by home type.
Average rent
$1,932
September 2026
Year over year
+2.7%
vs $1,881 a year ago
3-year change
+7.5%
from $1,797
Our forecast accuracy here
±0.6%
avg error on held-out data
United States rent history
Observed market rent since November 2016, with the next 2 forecast months and their expected range.
United States rent forecast
Our forecasting engine projects rents each month for every US metro with at least a year of observed data. The next 2 months for United States are free below; the full 12-month outlook with confidence ranges is part of RentLens Pro.
| Month | Forecast rent | Expected range | MoM | YoY | Since Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | $1,937 | $1,931–$1,942 | +0.2% | +3.1% | +0.2% |
| November 2026 | $1,939 | $1,931–$1,955 | +0.1% | +3.4% | +0.3% |
| Months 3–12 are available on the interactive forecast → see the full United States forecast | |||||
Explore United States on the live map
Interactive history, zip-level rents, and 12-month ML forecasts with explainability.
Rent figures are smoothed median asking rents (Zillow Observed Rent Index) for the United States metro area, updated monthly. Forecasts are produced by RentLens's proprietary ML models; “forecast accuracy” is this metro's average prediction error on held-out historical data.