152 Apartments for rent in Columbia, SC
📍Getting Around. Like many southern cities, Columbia is no place to be without a car. Bus service runs around downtown, with just a few routes that extend beyond the center of the city. However, traffic will be a breeze in most areas.
Watch Your Water. Columbia is known to have some of the best tasting water in the country. However, many older apartment complexes tend to accumulate extremely high water bills due to the common plumbing problems of older buildings. There are a few things to consider, water-wise, when deciding on your apartment. For instance, does the toilet ever stop running after you flush it? Can you hear any leaks in the faucets, showers, or in the walls? Does the apartment charge its tenants for pool water? All of these factors are likely to result in an uncomfortably high water bill.
Underground Culture. Check out these great spots for entertainment: Art Bar, the Hunter-Gatherer, Alley Cafe, summer concert series at Finlay Park, occasional music on the river, and amazing street bands playing on the corner for change during major festivals and holiday events. You can also visit New Brooklyn Tavern in the neighboring city of West Columbia for hardcore music, or catch bluegrass jams in the nearby city of Cayce.
Spare yourself the hours of research, and use this guide to find the neighborhoods that suit you best. Columbia has affordable, as well as luxurious rentals available all around the city, whether you want to live in the bright lights of downtown, or need some space with wide-open country views and dark star-gazing skies.
University Hill. Surrounded by downtown nightlife.
Congaree Vista. A renaissance on the river: beautiful parks, plenty of food, a growing music scene, and a healthy dose of art and theater, all accompanied by cold beer and cocktails.
Earlewood Park. Riverfront neighborhood of old cottages, neighborhood parks, and downtown skyline views.
Elmwood. Popular for its affordability, downtown proximity, and charming 1920's bungalows.
Cottontown. Historic homes with unique rental options.
Olympia-Grandby. Riverfront rentals and an easy walk to downtown.
Hollywood-Rose Hill. Good eats and a short walk to downtown
Waverly. An affordable and popular neighborhood.
Melrose Heights. Close proximity to downtown.
Old Shandon. Historic homes with bay windows, tons of shopping nearby, plus a quick commute to downtown entertainment.
Shandon. Tree-lined streets, distinctive architecture, and proximity to downtown and nearby shopping.
Rosewood. Complete with vintage atmosphere and uniquely Rosewood personality.
Southeast. Variety of housing options.
Arcadia Lakes. Popular for the nearby lake on a hot summer day, and its golf course.
Dentsville. Truly amazing for the scenery and nearby Sesquicentennial State Park. (Try saying that name three times fast)
Woodfield. Next door to Fort Jackson with everything you could as for in a neighborhood: lakes, a state park, a shopping center.
Forest Acres. Easy commutes to the lake or to downtown.
Spring Valley. A little farther north, complete with country club, enormous state park, tons of eats and shopping.
Greenview. Popular for its easy commute and proximity.
Eau Claire. Comes with a few parks and riverfront bike rides.
The Colony. A slew of beltline bars and plenty of affordable rentals.
Lincolnshire. Variety of different housing options here.
Denny Terrace. More rural, giving you more space.
Northwest
St. Andrews. Different housing options available.
Seven Oaks. A community just down the road from Lake Murray.
Irmo. Amazing location, with Lake Murray and the Harbison State Forest right next door.
That's the city breakdown for you. Now it's time to see it for yourself. Good luck with the hunt, and keep in mind that southern hospitality is a two-way street.
August 2020 Columbia Rent Report
Welcome to the August 2020 Columbia Rent Report. Columbia rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Columbia rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the state and nation.
Columbia rents increase sharply over the past month
Columbia rents have increased 0.6% over the past month, and have increased slightly by 1.2% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Columbia stand at $865 for a one-bedroom apartment and $999 for a two-bedroom. This is the sixth straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in January. Columbia's year-over-year rent growth leads the state and national averages, which both stand at 0.2%.
Rents rising across cities in South Carolina
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Columbia, but across the entire state. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in South Carolina, 6 of them have seen prices rise. The state as a whole logged rent growth of 0.2% over the past year. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the state.
- Looking throughout the state, Mount Pleasant is the most expensive of all South Carolina's major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $1,552; of the 10 largest South Carolina cities that we have data for, 4 have seen rents fall year-over-year, with Mount Pleasant experiencing the fastest decline (-4.9%).
- Rock Hill, North Charleston, and Columbia have all experienced year-over-year growth above the state average (3.1%, 2.7%, and 1.2%, respectively).
Columbia rents more affordable than many large cities nationwide
As rents have increased slightly in Columbia, other large cities nationwide have seen rents grow more quickly. Columbia is still more affordable than most large cities across the country.
- Columbia's median two-bedroom rent of $999 is below the national average of $1,193. Nationwide, rents have held steady over the past year.
- While Columbia's rents rose slightly over the past year, some cities nationwide saw increases as well, including Phoenix (+1.7%) and Detroit (+0.5%).
- Renters will find more reasonable prices in Columbia than most large cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $3,001, which is more than three times the price in Columbia.
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.
Columbia Renter Confidence Survey
Here’s how Columbia ranks on:
Apartment List has released Columbia’s results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of 111 million American renters nationwide.
"Columbia renters expressed general satisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment List. "However, ratings varied greatly across different categories, indicating that even though renters love Columbia, some aspects can be better."
Key findings in Columbia include the following:
- Columbia renters gave their city a B- overall.
- The highest-rated categories for Columbia were affordability, state and local taxes, and the quality of local schools, which all received A grades.
- The areas of concern to Columbia renters are recreational activities (D) and public transit (C).
- Millennial renters are very satisfied with their city, giving it an overall rating of A-.
- Columbia did relatively poorly compared to other cities in South Carolina, including Charleston (A+), Greenville (A+) and Myrtle Beach (A+).
- Columbia did relatively poorly compared to other cities nationwide, including Denver, CO (B+), Austin, TX (A-) and Seattle, WA (B+).
- The top rated cities nationwide for renter satisfaction include Scottsdale, AZ, Irvine, CA, Boulder, CO and Ann Arbor, MI. The lowest rated cities include Tallahassee, FL, Stockton, CA, Dayton, OH, Detroit, MI and Newark, NJ.
Renters say:
- "It’s a beautiful city. Easy commuting access from highways. The only thing I don’t like is the erratic weather: you never know when to put your summer clothes away!" – Leandra E.
- "Love the people, but rent is expensive." – Helen S.
- "I like the weather, the convenience of local shopping, and the friendly, kind people here." – Sheila B.
- "I love the activities but the cost of living is high compared to pay. Safe, nice places are either really expensive or far from downtown." – Jiani H.
For more information on the survey methodology and findings or to speak to one of our researchers, please contact our team at rentonomics@apartmentlist.com.