A Big Bird little bird told us there's an election coming up! With the ongoing concern over the economy and national unemployment rates, we wanted to do our part to help inform. We believe that rent prices are a good indication of a region's economic standing. We thought it would be interesting to see which states have seen the biggest increases and decreases in rent, and whether or not there was any correlation between these numbers and the way a state voted in the 2008 Presidential Elections.

By analyzing the asking rents of 1.8 million rental properties from January 2011 through June 2012 and calculating the average shift at a statewide level, we were able to determine that an overwhelming majority of states have demonstrated an increase in asking rents since January 2011. Thirty-four out of forty-five states that we were able to analyze showed rising rents. Ten states nationwide showed a decrease in asking rents, eight of which were blue states and two of which were red. Ohio was the only state that showed no change. Due to a limited sample size, pricing data was not available for MT, SD, VT, WV, and WY.

Overall, our data indicates that rent has increased nationwide by 9.7% since January 2011, and the biggest increases were found in North Dakota (+32.9%), New York (+24.8%), and Massachusetts (+23.5%). We've been reading reports for a while about North Dakota's booming economy, but 32.9% is nevertheless a surprising jump in rent prices over such a short time period. We were less surprised that New York and Massachusetts were near the top of the list, but a 20%-plus jump in just 18 months sure does sting.

Questions? Email data@apartmentlist.com