28 1 Bedroom Apartments for rent in West Chester, PA
August 2019 West Chester Rent Report
Welcome to the August 2019 West Chester Rent Report. West Chester rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the West Chester rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
August 2019 West Chester Rent Report
Welcome to the August 2019 West Chester Rent Report. West Chester rents remained steady over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the West Chester rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
West Chester rents declined over the past month
West Chester rents have declined 0.1% over the past month, but have increased slightly by 1.2% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in West Chester stand at $1,333 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,609 for a two-bedroom. West Chester's year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 1.1%, but trails the national average of 1.6%.
Rents rising across the Philadelphia Metro
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of West Chester, but across the entire metro. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the Philadelphia 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.
- Newark has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 5.0%. The median two-bedroom there costs $1,361, while one-bedrooms go for $1,128.
- Over the past year, King of Prussia has seen the biggest rent drop in the metro, with a decline of 2.7%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,522, while one-bedrooms go for $1,261.
- Pottstown has the least expensive rents in the Philadelphia metro, with a two-bedroom median of $986; rents decreased 1.5% over the past month but were up 2.3% over the past year.
- Lansdale has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Philadelphia metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,711; rents increased 0.9% over the past month and 3.7% over the past year.
Many large cities nationwide show more affordable rents compared to West Chester
As rents have increased slightly in West Chester, a few large cities nationwide have also seen rents grow modestly. Compared to most large cities across the country, West Chester is less affordable for renters.
- Rents increased slightly in other cities across the state, with Pennsylvania as a whole logging rent growth of 1.1% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 1.4% in Pittsburgh and 1.2% in Allentown.
- West Chester's median two-bedroom rent of $1,609 is above the national average of $1,191. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.6% over the past year compared to the 1.2% increase in West Chester.
- While West Chester's rents rose slightly over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Boston (+2.4%), New York (+1.8%), and Chicago (+1.4%).
- Renters will generally find more expensive prices in West Chester than most large cities. For example, Detroit has a median 2BR rent of $897, where West Chester is more than one-and-a-half 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.