US cities where real rent has grown most since 2000

Rent has outpaced inflation almost everywhere in the United States since 2000, but the gap between fastest and slowest cities is large. After converting 2000 gross rent to 2024 dollars using the BLS CPI, the 25 cities where the typical renter is now paying the most additional inflation-adjusted dollars are below.

Maricopa, Arizona leads at +$1,362 added to the median gross rent in real terms.

#	Place	2000 (in 2024 $)	Latest	Change
1	Maricopa, Arizona	$636	$1,998	+$1,362
2	Brentwood, California	$1,512	$2,758	+$1,246
3	Celina, Texas	$1,153	$2,379	+$1,226
4	Herriman, Utah	$807	$2,019	+$1,212
5	Buckeye, Arizona	$789	$1,963	+$1,174
6	Hoboken, New Jersey	$1,825	$2,938	+$1,113
7	Encinitas, California	$1,780	$2,886	+$1,106
8	Fulshear, Texas	$880	$1,952	+$1,072
9	Cambridge, Massachusetts	$1,752	$2,787	+$1,035
10	Palo Alto, California	$2,457	$3,484	+$1,027
11	Saratoga Springs, Utah	$1,230	$2,256	+$1,026
12	Newport Beach, California	$2,290	$3,316	+$1,026
13	Medford, Massachusetts	$1,492	$2,509	+$1,017
14	Chino Hills, California	$1,885	$2,894	+$1,009
15	Tracy, California	$1,470	$2,478	+$1,008
16	Carlsbad, California	$1,802	$2,808	+$1,006
17	Boca Raton, Florida	$1,543	$2,508	+$965
18	Santa Monica, California	$1,443	$2,402	+$959
19	Camarillo, California	$1,776	$2,734	+$958
20	Redwood City, California	$2,013	$2,968	+$955
21	San Mateo, California	$2,128	$3,077	+$949
22	Chula Vista, California	$1,288	$2,229	+$941
23	Chino, California	$1,401	$2,336	+$935
24	Lake Elsinore, California	$1,153	$2,078	+$925
25	Somerville, Massachusetts	$1,592	$2,517	+$925

Key findings

• Maricopa, Arizona leads the list at +$1,362.
• The 25th-ranked city on this list — Somerville, Massachusetts — shows +$925.
• Across the full universe of 871 city rows with both data points, the typical change was +$362.
• The top gainers concentrate in California (14 of the top 25), Massachusetts (3 of the top 25), Arizona (2 of the top 25).

Where the pattern sits geographically

California (14 of the top 25), Massachusetts (3 of the top 25), Arizona (2 of the top 25) together account for the bulk of the top of this list. Click any city above to open its CensusEasy page, which carries the full historical time series for every metric we publish (income, education, housing, commute, race composition, industry mix), plus its rank within its state and its national percentile on each metric.

How to read this

This ranking is sorted by absolute change, not by percentage change. Absolute change is the figure that lines up with how readers experience these numbers in everyday life ("the typical household here earns $X more than in 1990"). The percentage-change framing surfaces a different set of city rows — usually places that started from a low base — and we publish those rankings separately on the rankings pages.

A single metric never tells the whole story. The smallest gain on this list can reflect either change in the same population staying in place, or compositional change as some residents leave and others arrive. Companion studies on poverty, education, and housing cost together describe the fuller picture.

"Gross rent" includes contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, so the comparison captures the full housing cost, not just the headline rent number.