19 Studio Apartments for rent in San Rafael, CA
February 2020 San Rafael Rent Report
Welcome to the February 2020 San Rafael Rent Report. San Rafael rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the San Rafael rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
February 2020 San Rafael Rent Report
Welcome to the February 2020 San Rafael Rent Report. San Rafael rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the San Rafael rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
San Rafael rents increased significantly over the past month
San Rafael rents have increased 0.5% over the past month, and have increased slightly by 1.1% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in San Rafael stand at $2,577 for a one-bedroom apartment and $3,238 for a two-bedroom. This is the fourth straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in September of last year. San Rafael's year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 1.3%, as well as the national average of 1.6%.
Rents rising across the San Francisco Metro
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of San Rafael, but across the entire metro. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the San Francisco metro, 8 of them have seen prices rise. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Oakland has seen rents fall by 0.7% over the past year, the biggest drop in the metro. It also has the least expensive rents in the San Francisco metro, with a two-bedroom median of $2,205.
- Richmond has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 5.5%. The median two-bedroom there costs $2,803, while one-bedrooms go for $2,231.
- San Mateo has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the San Francisco metro, with a two-bedroom median of $4,461; rents were up 0.3% over the past month and 1.7% over the past year.
Many large cities nationwide show more affordable rents compared to San Rafael
As rents have increased slightly in San Rafael, a few large cities nationwide have also seen rents grow modestly. Compared to most large cities across the country, San Rafael is less affordable for renters.
- Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, with California as a whole logging rent growth of 1.3% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 1.3% in San Jose, 1.3% in San Diego, and 0.5% in Los Angeles.
- San Rafael's median two-bedroom rent of $3,238 is above the national average of $1,193. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.6% over the past year compared to the 1.1% increase in San Rafael.
- While San Rafael's rents rose slightly over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.7%), Austin (+3.3%), and Dallas (+2.4%).
- Renters will generally find more expensive prices in San Rafael than most large cities. For example, Phoenix has a median 2BR rent of $1,101, where San Rafael is nearly three times that price.
For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S. at this link.
Methodology - Recent Updates:
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.
Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.
Methodology:
Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.
Read more about our methodology here.
About Rent Reports:
Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.
We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.