Arlington apartment rents continue to be down slightly from this time last year, although they’re up slightly from February, according to one survey.
Zumper’s monthly rent index, released yesterday (Wednesday), reported the county’s median apartment-rental asking rate as $2,380 for one-bedroom units and $3,170 for two bedrooms in February. Those rates are down 4.4% and 5.4%, respectively, from February 2025.
However, the cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington increased marginally from last month. It now stands at $2,380, compared to $2,330 in January, according to Zumper.
For February, median U.S. rents were $1,499 for one-bedroom units, down 1.7% year-over year, and $1,878 for two bedrooms, down 1.4%.
“The unusual rent cuts seen last summer and fall appear to have largely run their course, with winter pricing returning to a more typical seasonal pattern,” Zumper said in its analysis of national market trends.
Among the 100 urban areas, New York City had the highest one-bedroom rental rates in February, with the median rate of $4,250 down 1.8% from a year before. For two-bedroom units, San Francisco topped the list at a whopping $5,120, up 21.3% from February 2025.
“San Francisco is a clear example of how quickly rent growth can reaccelerate in supply-constrained markets,” said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades.
“Renewed job growth tied to AI and a gradual return to in-office work are pushing demand back into the market, particularly for larger units, at a time when new supply remains limited,” Georgiades said.
At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest median price for one-bedroom units was recorded in Wichita, Kan., at $720, with the lowest rate for two-bedroom units reported in Shreveport, La., at $890.
Among the 100 locales, one-bedroom units could be rented for a median of $1,000 or less in 19 places. For two-bedroom units, only three localities — Wichita, Shreveport and Akron, Ohio — had median rents of less than $1,000. But 45 of the 100 had median rents of $1,500 or less.
Apartment List suggests smaller year-over-year decline: Another monthly rent analysis, by Apartment List, pegs Arlington’s median apartment rent in February at $2,550 — $2,401 for one-bedroom units, $2,902 for two bedrooms.
That’s down 1.7% compared to a year before, but is above both the D.C. region ($2,122) and U.S. ($1,359) median rents for the month.
Arlington stood as the fifth most expensive urban locale out of the 100 ranked by Apartment List. It is a position the county has held most of the past year, with Arlington being the most expensive non-California jurisdiction in the ranking.
Apartments.com sees slight uptick in national rental costs: Another analysis of apartment rents, by Apartments.com, pegged the national average apartment rental at $1,716, up 0.4% year-over-year.
“Apartment rent growth generally follows a seasonal pattern, accelerating in the spring and slowing in late summer and fall,” its analysts said. “Rents in February typically build on growth that begins with the December inflection.”
They continued:
“Although rent declines were more pronounced in late summer and early fall of 2025, the monthly trend has stabilized since November, with February extending positive rent growth at a slower pace than January. Supply pressures remain elevated and continue to temper momentum, resulting in uneven early-year gains that remain below typical February seasonal averages.”
Apartments.com is a subsidiary of Arlington-based CoStar Group. Its monthly report uses average rental prices, compared to median prices for Zumper.
Apartments.com’s monthly report breaks out data for 50 large urban areas, but Arlington is not among them.
