62 Studio Apartments for rent in Kansas City, KS
February 2020 Kansas City Rent Report
Welcome to the February 2020 Kansas City Rent Report. Kansas City rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Kansas City rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
February 2020 Kansas City Rent Report
Welcome to the February 2020 Kansas City Rent Report. Kansas City rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Kansas City rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Kansas City rents increased slightly over the past month
Kansas City rents have increased 0.2% over the past month, but have been relatively flat at 0.4% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Kansas City stand at $730 for a one-bedroom apartment and $895 for a two-bedroom. Kansas City's year-over-year rent growth lags the state and national averages, which both stand at 1.6%.
Rents rising across the Kansas City Metro
While rents have remained steady in the city of Kansas City throughout the past year, cities across the metro have seen a different trend. Rents have risen in all of of the largest 10 cities in the Kansas City metro for which we have data. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Leawood has the most expensive rents in the Kansas City metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,523; the city has also seen rent growth of 8.6% over the past year, the fastest in the metro.
- Over the past month, Liberty has seen the biggest rent drop in the metro, with a decline of 0.4%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $903, while one-bedrooms go for $736.
- Kansas City proper has the least expensive rents in the Kansas City metro, with a two-bedroom median of $895; rents were up 0.2% over the past month but remained flat year-over-year.
Kansas City rents more affordable than many large cities nationwide
Rent growth in Kansas City has been relatively stable over the past year - some other large cities have seen more substantial increases. Kansas City is still more affordable than most large cities across the country.
- Other cities across the state have seen rents moderately increase, with Kansas as a whole logging rent growth of 1.6% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 3.2% in Topeka and 1.6% in Wichita.
- Kansas City's median two-bedroom rent of $895 is below the national average of $1,193. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.6% over the past year compared to the stagnant growth in Kansas City.
- While rents in Kansas City remained moderately stable this year, similar cities saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.7%), Dallas (+2.4%), and Seattle (+1.8%); note that median 2BR rents in these cities go for $1,101, $1,137, and $1,676 respectively.
- Renters will find more reasonable prices in Kansas City than most large cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $3,090, which is nearly three-and-a-half times the price in Kansas City.
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.