The median cost of renting an apartment in Arlington has likely hit its high point for 2026 after increasing 3.5% since the start of the year.
The county’s $2,611 median rent in July — $2,459 for one-bedroom units, $2,975 for two-bedroom units — was down 1.1% year-over-year but remains among the priciest in the nation.
That’s according to a monthly data report from Apartment List, released July 29, which indicated that Arlington rental costs are well above the D.C. region’s median of $2,172.
During the pandemic, Arlington’s median rate decreased from $2,234 in March 2020 to $1,901 in January 2021. It has since come roaring back, reaching an all-time peak of $2,652 in June 2025.
In the latest report, Arlington retained its place as fifth most expensive of the 100 urban areas nationally surveyed by Apartment List.
It trailed only four California communities: San Francisco ($3,714 median rent), San Jose ($3,118), Irvine ($3,059) and Fremont ($2,961).
The least expensive of the 100 were Toledo ($908), Detroit ($1,041) and Tucson ($1,045).
Nationally, the median apartment rental rate in July was $1,220 for one-bedroom units, $1,347 for two bedrooms and $1,388 overall, down 1.1% from a year before but up for the sixth month in a row as rates follow typical seasonal norms.
According to Apartment List analysts:
“The broad contours of this seasonal pattern are a dependable trend, 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. As a result, full-year rent growth has been negative for each of the past three years.”
In dollar terms, the national median monthly rent is down $15 compared to July 2025. Nationally, prices 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 3.7%, or $54 monthly.
Despite the prolonged pullback in prices, today’s rent levels remain 21% higher nationally than they were at the start of 2021.
Zumper ranks Arlington 7th most expensive
Another analytics firm, Zumper, released its own July market report yesterday (Wednesday). It ranked Arlington seventh most expensive nationally for one-bedroom rentals, at $2,430.
Nationally, the Zumper survey listed the price of one-bedroom apartments at $1,520 for the month, with two-bedroom units at $1,906. Following cyclical norms, national rents were up for the sixth month in a row.
Leading the pack nationally in the Zumper analysis was San Francisco, where median one-bedroom rents grew 23% year over year to $4,180 and two-bedroom rents were up 26% to $6,020, a national record high.
Zumper analysts expect the national market to follow norms and cool in the second half of the year:
“We are now approaching the tail end of the peak moving season, and the off-season cooldown in prices is likely to begin in another month or two. This trend is in line with typical seasonal patterns — prices generally increase in the spring and summer when most moves take place, and then soften in the fall and winter as moving activity slows.”
The most important driver behind the soft market conditions, which have persisted for over three years, has been a historic surge of multifamily construction, Zumper analysts said. Over 600,000 new units arrived in 2024, the most since 1986.
“Since then, deliveries of new apartments have slowed considerably, albeit while remaining fairly robust by historic standards,” analysts said. “Despite being at the tail end of the construction boom, the market had still been struggling to absorb the swell of new inventory — [but] is now finally changing.”
