With the cost of a two-bedroom apartment above $3,000 for another month, Arlington rent continued a gradual upward trajectory in June.
The county’s median rent for an apartment was up 0.3% month-over-month, contributing to an increase of 3.6% since the start of the year and 2.6% year-over-year, according to data reported by Apartment List.
Median rates in Arlington were $2,496 for one-bedroom units, $3,016 for two-bedrooms and $2,651 overall. These were the fifth-highest rates nationwide, and the highest outside of California.
Arlington rent was 89% higher than the national median of $1,401 and 19% higher than the median apartment-rental cost of $2,221 across the D.C. region.
Regionwide, Tysons had the second-priciest apartments, at $2,465 for one-bedroom units and $2,955 for two bedrooms. Arlington remains the only subsector of the metro area to have broken the $3,000-per-month median price for two-bedroom units.
It is a data point used frequently by County Board Chair Takis Karantonis as he pushes for action on housing issues.
“It’s just too damn expensive,” Karantonis said of housing costs during a debate leading up to the June 17 Democratic primary.
Pointing to an ARLnow article noting that the median rent for Arlington two-bedroom apartments had surpassed $3,000, Karantonis said costs are “absolutely insane” and need to be addressed.
Among areas comparable to Arlington across the D.C. area, rental costs all were trending higher:
- Alexandria: Median costs were reported as $2,111 for a one-bedroom unit and $2,593 for two bedrooms, up 2.8% year-over-year
- Bethesda: $1,927/$2,323, up 0.3%
- Fair Oaks: $2,329/$2,603, up 2.3%
- Merrifield/Mosaic: $2,406/$2,955, up 2.7%
- Reston: $2,284/$2,419, up 4.9%
- Silver Spring: $1,575, $1,843, up 0.6%
- D.C.: $2,183/$2,241, up 0.5%
In its monthly reporting, Apartment List tracks 100 urban centers, including Arlington and D.C. (the city, not the metro area). For June, Arlington trailed only four California communities: Irvine ($3,038 median rental cost), San Francisco ($2,991), San Jose ($2,908) and Fremont ($2,789).
The least expensive among the 100 areas were Toledo, Ohio (median rental cost of $880 monthly) and Fort Wayne, Ind. ($1,008).
While some New York City neighborhoods have jaw-dropping median apartment-rental costs — led by Tribeca at more than $8,000 monthly last year — the median citywide for June was $2,480. That placed New York City seventh on the ranking.
Nationally, median apartment-rental rates in June were down 0.7% from a year before.
While the national month-over-month median rental rate edged up slightly in June, the rate of rent growth has been slowing at the time of year when it’s typically the fastest, Apartment List analysts said.
According to the analysts:
“All of our key indicators are pointing toward a sluggish summer moving season — rent growth is slipping and the multifamily vacancy rate is at an all time high. A return to tighter market conditions should still be on the horizon as the supply wave continues to recede, but the outlook has been complicated by macroeconomic whiplash being caused by tariffs and other policies being pursued by the Trump administration. This uncertainty appears to be weighing on demand, but the magnitude of that impact is not yet clear.”
National median rental costs peaked in August 2022 and have since fallen by 2.8%, or $41 per month. But that cooldown came following a period of record-setting rent growth, and “the typical rent price remains 22% higher than its January 2021 level,” analysts said.
San Francisco has seen the fastest year-over-year rent growth (up 4.9% year-over-year), while the Austin metro is currently the nation’s softest rental market (down 6.4%).
