105 Cheap Apartments for rent in Baltimore, MD
July 2020 Baltimore Rent Report
Welcome to the July 2020 Baltimore Rent Report. Baltimore rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Baltimore rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
July 2020 Baltimore Rent Report
Welcome to the July 2020 Baltimore Rent Report. Baltimore rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Baltimore rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Baltimore rents increased over the past month
Baltimore rents have remained steady over the past month, but have decreased moderately by 0.7% year-over-year. Currently, median rents in Baltimore stand at $953 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,195 for a two-bedroom. Baltimore's year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of -0.6%, as well as the national average of 0.2%.
Rent trends vary across the Baltimore Metro
While rent prices have decreased in Baltimore over the past year, the rest of the metro is seeing varying rent trends. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the Baltimore metro, half have seen increases, while the other half have been decreasing. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Over the past year, Ellicott City has seen the biggest rent drop in the metro, with a decline of 5.6%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,746, while one-bedrooms go for $1,392.
- Catonsville has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 2.4%. The median two-bedroom there costs $1,471, while one-bedrooms go for $1,172.
- Columbia has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Baltimore metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,954; rents went down 0.3% over the past month and 0.5% over the past year.
- Essex has the least expensive rents in the Baltimore metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,111; rents remained steady over the past month.
Baltimore rents more affordable than many comparable cities nationwide
As rents have fallen moderately in Baltimore, other large cities nationwide have seen prices increase, in some cases substantially. Baltimore is also more affordable than most similar cities across the country.
- Baltimore's median two-bedroom rent of $1,195 is slightly above the national average of $1,192. Nationwide, rents have held steady over the past year.
- While rents in Baltimore fell moderately over the past year, many cities nationwide saw increases, including Columbus (+0.9%) and Nashville (+0.7%).
- Renters will find more reasonable prices in Baltimore than most other large cities. For example, Boston has a median 2BR rent of $2,108, which is more than one-and-a-half times the price in Baltimore.
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.