Have you ever dreamt about packing up and moving to a different city? Whether you’re drawn to renting an apartment in a big city or a small town, you have to consider the bang you’re getting for your buck. A small apartment in New York City will probably be a lot more expensive than renting an equal sized apartment in the Midwest. I recently heard that you are supposed to spend around 20-30 percent of your salary on rent. I compared different cities across the U.S. to see just how much I would be spending if I decided to move.
San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities to rent an apartment in the United States. In June of 2012, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco cost $2,347. An average two-bedroom San Francisco apartment was $3,061.
As of July 2012, the average rent for an apartment in New York City was $2692. One-bedroom apartments in New York rent for $2490 a month on average and the rent for a two-bedroom averages $2919. There’s always Brooklyn, right?
As for Chicago, the median rent for an apartment is $1,530. More specifically, a one-bedroom averages $1,500, a two-bedroom averages $1,997, and a three-bedroom averages $1,896.
If you want cheaper rent, it looks like you’re going to have to move to a smaller city. Take Indianapolis for instance. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Indianapolis in July 2012 was $637. The rental average of a two-bedroom apartment was $718 and the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment was $1,035. That’s significantly cheaper than San Francisco, New York, or Chicago!
When it comes to choosing where you want to live, you have to think about how much you are willing to pay for rent and if you’re willing to pay the big bucks to live in a big city.
