Tucson rents increase sharply over the past month
Apartment List is reporting Tucson rents have increased 0.8% over the past month, and have increased sharply by 6.3% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Tucson stand at $813 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,086 for a two-bedroom. This is the eighth straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in March. Tucson's year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 4.4%, as well as the national average of -1.3%.
Rents rising across cities in Arizona
Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Tucson, but across the entire state. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in Arizona, all of them have seen prices rise. The state as a whole logged rent growth of 4.4% 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, Scottsdale is the most expensive of all Arizona's major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $1,515; of the 10 largest Arizona cities that we have data for, all have seen rents rise year-over-year, with Surprise experiencing the fastest growth (+8.3%).
- Glendale, Gilbert, and Mesa have all experienced year-over-year growth above the state average (8.1%, 6.6%, and 6.5%, respectively).
Tucson rents more affordable than many similar cities nationwide
As rents have increased sharply in Tucson, other large cities nationwide have seen rents grow more modestly, or in some cases, even decline. Tucson is still more affordable than most other large cities across the country.
- Tucson's median two-bedroom rent of $1,086 is slightly below the national average of $1,095. Nationwide, rents have fallen by 1.3% over the past year compared to the 6.3% increase in Tucson.
- While Tucson's rents rose sharply over the past year, the city of Detroit also saw an increase of 2.9%.
- Renters will find more reasonable prices in Tucson than most comparable cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $2,377, which is more than twice the price in Tucson.
For more information check out our national report. You can also access the full data for cities and counties across the U.S.
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 about the methodology on our blog.
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.
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.
Renter Confidence Survey
Apartment List has released Tucson’s results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters nationwide, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of the country’s 111 million renters.
"Tucson renters expressed general dissatisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment Lis...