States With The Highest And Lowest Rent In The US For August 2026

We’ve previously taken a look at the Cheapest States and Most Expensive States, and to no one’s surprise, California was the most expensive.

But that analysis was done based on the total cost of living for food, daycare, transportation, and, of course, housing.

So today we wanted to highlight what might the most important piece of data of all those listed above — housing — and, in particular, the states with the highest rent.

In one of the few analyzes we do that does not rely on Census data, our data for this particular excercise comes from ApartmentList which releases the most timely and accurate data available on rents across the country. We specifically looked the Rental Listings –> Overall –> State data set.

After we extracted the rental data and ranked them from highest lowest, California came in a distant second to New York.

Here’s a look at the ten states in America with the highest rent:

1. Hawaii (Rent)
2. California (Rent)
3. Massachusetts (Rent)
4. New York (Rent)
5. New Jersey (Rent)
6. Maryland (Rent)
7. Virginia (Rent)
8. Washington (Rent)
9. Connecticut (Rent)
10. Alaska (Rent)

Here’s a look at the ten states in America with the lowest rent:

1. South Dakota (Rent)
2. Arkansas (Rent)
3. Alabama (Rent)
4. West Virginia (Rent)
5. Oklahoma (Rent)
6. Iowa (Rent)
7. Kentucky (Rent)
8. Wyoming (Rent)
9. New Mexico (Rent)
10. Mississippi (Rent)

Rent is generally cheaper in the Midwestern states and the South compare to the coasts. More land and less demands means lower rent.

Read on for a more detailed methodology and data on each state or feel free to check out some of other research:

• Best Places To Live In America
• Most Dangerous Cities
• Best Places By State

How We Calculated The States With The Highest And Lowest Rent For August 2026

We’ve been ranking states and cities for over four years now and we always start our quests for data in the same manner — as stroll through the American Community Survey.

But, as we mentioned above, we’ve made a rate exception to that rule as there is another source we trust and that has way more timely data — ApartmentList.

ApartmentList provides monthly data on rents across America by state, select counties, and select cities. The current data runs through August 2026 — there’s a bit of a lag in reporting.

That compares to the Census last release of data in December 2023 that only goes through 2022, so ApartmentList is way more up-to-date.

With all that in mind, we took the median rent for Rental Listings –> Median Rent Overall –> State from ApartmentList’s data.

We then ranked each state from the highest median rent to the lowest.

The state with the most expensive rent ended up being Hawaii.

The best deal? South Dakota and Arkansas.

Continue on for a look at the top ten or scroll to the bottom for a detailed, state-by-state table. We also broke down every state’s data into specific charts and graphs.

We updated this article for August 2026.

The 10 States With The Highest Median Rent In America

1. Hawaii

Population: 1,450,589
Median Rent: $2,402

Detailed breakdown of rents in Hawaii.

2. California

Population: 39,356,104
Median Rent: $2,234

Detailed breakdown of rents in California.

3. Massachusetts

Population: 6,984,205
Median Rent: $2,054

Detailed breakdown of rents in Massachusetts.

4. New York

Population: 19,994,379
Median Rent: $2,018

Detailed breakdown of rents in New York.

5. New Jersey

Population: 9,249,063
Median Rent: $1,982

Detailed breakdown of rents in New Jersey.

6. Maryland

Population: 6,161,707
Median Rent: $1,832

Detailed breakdown of rents in Maryland.

7. Virginia

Population: 8,624,511
Median Rent: $1,797

Detailed breakdown of rents in Virginia.

8. Washington

Population: 7,688,549
Median Rent: $1,780

Detailed breakdown of rents in Washington.

9. Connecticut

Population: 3,611,317
Median Rent: $1,731

Detailed breakdown of rents in Connecticut.

10. Alaska

Population: 734,821
Median Rent: $1,656

Detailed breakdown of rents in Alaska.

The 10 States With The Lowest Median Rent In America

1. South Dakota

Population: 890,342
Median Rent: $911

Detailed breakdown of rents in South Dakota.

2. Arkansas

Population: 3,018,669
Median Rent: $933

Detailed breakdown of rents in Arkansas.

3. Alabama

Population: 5,028,092
Median Rent: $993

Detailed breakdown of rents in Alabama.

4. West Virginia

Population: 1,792,967
Median Rent: $993

Detailed breakdown of rents in West Virginia.

5. Oklahoma

Population: 3,970,497
Median Rent: $1,018

Detailed breakdown of rents in Oklahoma.

6. Iowa

Population: 3,188,836
Median Rent: $1,020

Detailed breakdown of rents in Iowa.

7. Kentucky

Population: 4,502,935
Median Rent: $1,085

Detailed breakdown of rents in Kentucky.

8. Wyoming

Population: 577,929
Median Rent: $1,088

Detailed breakdown of rents in Wyoming.

9. New Mexico

Population: 2,112,463
Median Rent: $1,097

Detailed breakdown of rents in New Mexico.

10. Mississippi

Population: 2,958,846
Median Rent: $1,097

Detailed breakdown of rents in Mississippi.

So There Are Your States With The Highest Rents In America

With the median rent in America only $1,700, you can expect to pay almost twice that in California or New York.

The states with the highest rent in the United States are Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Connecticut, and Alaska.

The states with the lowest rent in the United States are South Dakota, Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Mississippi.

If you’re thinking of trying to move to somewhere cheap, then stick to the heartland where you can expect to pay closer to $1,000.

For more reading, check out:

• Most Dangerous States In America
• Cheapest Cities By State
• Best States In America