Arlington’s median apartment rental rates remain modestly down year-over-year in one new national survey, while posting a slight uptick in another.
In each case, the county’s costs for renters are among the highest in the nation — fifth most expensive in one survey, seventh in the other.
Zumper reports 1% local increase
Zumper, which analyzes apartment rents nationally, pegged the median Arlington rental cost at $2,440 for one-bedroom units and $2,795 for all units in April. That’s up 1% year-over-year and stands 43% higher than the national median rental rate, in data reported Tuesday.
According to Zumper’s data, just 4% of Arlington apartments rent for less than $1,500 per month, with 53% going for $1,501 to $3,000 monthly and 30% renting for $3,001 to $4,500.
An additional 8% of units rent for between $4,501 and $6,000, while the remaining 5% go for more than $6,001.
Arlington again ranked seventh nationally among large urban areas for apartment costs in the Zumper survey.
Leading the pack was Manhattan (median rental rate for a one-bedroom unit of $4,540), San Francisco ($3,850) and Boston and Jersey City ($3,000 each).
According to Zumper analyst Crystal Chen, year-over-year declines in rental costs could soon become a thing of the past as the national market recalibrates:
“Annual rent changes remain negative for the 10th straight month, but declines have nearly disappeared, with one-bedrooms down just 0.6% and two-bedrooms down 0.3%. With one-bedrooms just 2% below their December 2024 peak price of $1,538 and two-bedrooms nearing their August 2024 high of $1,915, national record rents could be challenged before summer ends if momentum holds.”
But not all markets are reacting the same, according to Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy:
“Underneath the national averages, the rental market is splitting in two. Expensive coastal cities are seeing rents spike as supply remains constrained, while markets in the Sun Belt and Mountain States are still working through a significant inventory overhang that could take another year or two to fully absorb. What looks like a national recovery is increasingly just a handful of markets doing the heavy lifting.”
Chicago re-entered the top 10 for the first time in nearly two years with the third-highest annual growth rate in the nation for one-bedrooms, up 8.3% to $2,220 monthly.
For the first time in Zumper’s reporting, Los Angeles fell out of the 10 most expensive markets, now ranking as the 11th priciest city in the nation at a median $2,210 for a one-bedroom unit.
Apartment List reports 1.4% drop
Apartment List told a somewhat different story. According to its data, Arlington apartment rents in April were down 1.4% from the same point in 2025, with a median rental rate of $2,455 for one-bedroom units, $2,966 for two-bedroom units and $2,607 overall.
Despite the reported decline, county rents were the fifth highest among 100 urban areas tracked by Apartment List. Four California localities were more expensive: San Francisco ($3,324 median apartment rent), Irvine ($3,057), San Jose ($2,964) and Fremont ($2,847).
On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest monthly rents were recorded in Toledo ($881), Wichita ($1,027), Tucson ($1,029), Cleveland ($1,034) and Detroit ($1,036).
For the first four months of 2026, Arlington’s median apartment rent was up 3.3%. That’s typical as the winter market begins to move into spring; in 2025, median rents increased 3.1% between January and April.
The national median monthly rent ticked up 0.5% to $1,370 in April, increasing for the third consecutive month following six straight monthly rent declines, but was down 1.7% year-over-year.
“We are now entering the time of year when the bulk of moves take place, and as such, we’ll likely see continued price increases through the summer, in line with typical seasonal patterns,” Apartment List analysts said. “Prices generally soften as fewer renters move during the fall and winter, and then gradually begin to increase as we get closer to the peak moving summer season.”
Since Covid, there have been some variations to that norm, they said:
“The broad contours of this seasonal pattern are consistent, but in recent years we’ve seen sharper winter dips and more modest summer bumps as the market has gone through a soft spell amid a wave of new multifamily construction. In addition to steeper winter declines since 2022, we have also observed a slight shift in the timing of rental market seasonality.”
“Whereas May used to be the annual peak for rent growth, over the past three years March has been the hottest month, with rent growth slowing down during what were, prior to the pandemic, the months when prices would increase most quickly. This year again, we saw rent growth stall out in April, with month-over-month growth coming in just a hair below the March reading.”
In terms of year-over-year appreciation, Virginia Beach (+5.2%) tops the 100 urban areas, with Austin (-5.7%) at the bottom.
National apartment-rental costs peaked in mid-2022 after a year and a half of skyrocketing growth. Since then, the nationwide median rent has been gradually drifting down and has fallen from that peak by a total of 5 percent, or $72 per month.
Despite the pullback in prices, today’s rent levels remain 20% higher than they were at the start of 2021.
Nationally, unoccupied units are taking an average of 35 days to get leased after being listed, five days longer than one year ago and nearly twice as long as it took units to turn over when the market was at its hottest in mid-2021.
Apartment List’s national vacancy index recently hit a peak of 7.3%, marking the highest level since at least 2017, but declined to 7.2% in the April report.
“That said, this month’s decline was modest, and the vacancy rate remains elevated above its long-run average,” analysts said. “And with mixed news on the labor market combined with renewed inflation concerns, there is reason to think that demand could be sluggish headed into the peak moving season. It’s possible that the vacancy rate will simply plateau at this elevated rate, rather than continuing to decline in a meaningful way.”
Apartments.com sees 0.5% national increase
A third data analysis — from Apartments.com — recorded the average national apartment rent at $1,730 for April, up 0.5% from a year before.
“While apartment rent growth typically accelerates at this stage of the spring leasing season, gains in April were the weakest since 2014, excepting the pandemic year of 2020, suggesting that spring leasing season momentum is more restrained than in a typical year,” Apartments.com analysts said. “While monthly rent growth has stabilized since late 2025, supply conditions and more measured demand growth continue to restrain pricing momentum nationally.”
“Regionally, modest monthly rent gains are now widespread across the country, though year-over-year performance remains uneven and closely tied to local supply conditions,” they added.
On a metro-area basis, San Francisco continues to outperform, posting rent growth of +7.3%, followed by San Jose at +4.3%, Norfolk at +4.2% and Chicago at +2.9%. Meanwhile, markets experiencing the largest supply additions remained under pressure, led by Austin with a 4.1% annual decline, followed by Denver at -3.3% and San Antonio at -3.1%, reflecting new supply continuing to outpace demand.
