If you’re a renter looking to get the most bang for your buck, a recent RentCafe report might help guide you to just the right place.
The apartment search website set out to determine how much apartment space renters across the United States can get for just $1,500 a month. The report found that more than half of the top 20 major cities offering the most space for that amount are in the Southeast and Southwest.
Renters in major coastal cities like New York and Boston are sacrificing square footage and shelling out equal amounts in monthly rent, data shows. For example, Wichita, Kansas, offers the most space for $1,500 a month at 1,359 square feet while Manhattan, New York City residents pay the same and get just 228 square feet.
Texas has three locations where renters can get the most space for just $1,500— Lubbock, El Paso and Corpus Christi. Major cities in California top the list of places that offer the least amount of space for $1,500.
Wichita, Kansas
John Coletti | Photolibrary | Getty Images
To rank the 200 cities, RentCafe calculated the price per square foot derived from the average rents and average size of apartments by city in multifamily properties of 50 or more units.
It defined large cities as those with a population of more than 225,000, while small cities were those with less than 225,000 residents. RentCafe pulled data for three boroughs in New York City: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
Here’s how much apartment space you can get for $1,500 a month across several major U.S. cities.
Wichita, Kansas
- Apartment size: 1,359 square feet
Lincoln, Nebraska
- Apartment size: 1,120 square feet
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Apartment size: 1,108 square feet
Kansas City, Missouri
- Apartment size: 1,057 square feet
Columbus, Ohio
- Apartment size: 1,037 square feet
San Antonio, Texas
- Apartment size: 1,012 square feet
Jacksonville, Florida
- Apartment size: 973 square feet
Detroit, Michigan
- Apartment size: 957 square feet
Fresno, California
- Apartment size: 854 square feet
Richmond, Virginia
- Apartment size: 852 square feet
Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Apartment size: 838 square feet
Austin, Texas
- Apartment size: 759 square feet
Newark, New Jersey
- Apartment size: 696 square feet
Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Apartment size: 694 square feet
Miami, Florida
- Apartment size: 533 square feet
Chicago, Illinois
- Apartment size: 489 square feet
Washington D.C.
- Apartment size: 464 square feet
Seattle, Washington
- Apartment size: 456 square feet
San Francisco, California
- Apartment size: 334 square feet
Manhattan, New York City, New York
- Apartment size: 228 square feet
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