The latest quarterly rental data from roommate matching service SpareRoom reveals Texas metro areas have seen some of the highest annual room rent increases. These have increased 46% in Fort Worth, 30% in Houston, and 17% in Austin, between Q4 2023 and Q4 2024.
At $1,043 per month, renters in the Fort Worth, TX metro area are now paying, on average, 46% more in rent than a year ago, but the average renter only has a budget of $700 per month.
The affordability crisis is worst in Dallas and Houston. In both these areas, average room rents are now almost $400 higher than renters’ budgets.
In fact, budgets are outstripped by Q4 average rents in every metro area included in SpareRoom’s index, laying bare the widespread affordability crisis.
Just behind Fort Worth in terms of areas facing steep rent rises is Houston, where rents have risen by 30% when comparing Q4 2024 with the same period in 2023. Renters will need to find $393 over their budgets to rent a room here.
Rents peaked in Q4 2024 in Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas and Houston, beating all previous records. Rents only decreased in New York, Seattle and Boston.
The table below shows average rents and rent increases for the 21 most popular metro areas on SpareRoom, alongside roommates’ average budgets for each area. Bolded metro areas have seen rents peak in Q4 2024:
| Metro area | Ave rent change compared to Q4 2023 | Ave monthly room rent Q4 2024 | Ave budgets (based on room wanted ads posted by roomseekers) | Affordability gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fort Worth, TX | 46.28% | $1043 | $700 | $343 |
| 2 | Houston, TX | 30.42% | $1089 | $696 | $393 |
| 3 | Raleigh, NC | 23.49% | $983 | $756 | $227 |
| 4 | Austin, TX | 17.08% | $1097 | $824 | $273 |
| 5 | Denver, CO | 13.79% | $1246 | $869 | $377 |
| 6 | Orlando, FL | 13.62% | $1051 | $788 | $263 |
| 7 | Dallas, TX | 10.37% | $1149 | $751 | $398 |
| 8 | Chicago, IL, IN, WI | 8.20% | $1095 | $829 | $266 |
| 9 | Atlanta, GA | 6.64% | $916 | $769 | $147 |
| 10 | Phoenix, AZ | 6.50% | $1000 | $810 | $190 |
| 11 | Charlotte, NC, SC | 5.78% | $933 | $779 | $154 |
| 12 | Washington D.C., DC,MD,VA,WV | 5.52% | $1262 | $926 | $336 |
| 13 | San Francisco Bay Area, CA | 3.10% | $1332 | $1134 | $198 |
| 14 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 2.60% | $1185 | $908 | $277 |
| 15 | Tampa, FL | 2.54% | $1010 | $834 | $176 |
| 16 | Las Vegas, NV | 1.57% | $907 | $765 | $142 |
| 17 | San Diego, CA | 1.07% | $1328 | $1088 | $240 |
| 18 | Los Angeles, CA | 0.07% | $1345 | $1078 | $267 |
| 19 | New York, NJ, NY | -0.74% | $1610 | $1235 | $375 |
| 20 | Seattle, WA | -1.68% | $1054 | $912 | $142 |
| 21 | Boston, MA, NH | -3.61% | $1362 | $1114 | $248 |
Source: SpareRoom.com
Matt Hutchinson, spokesperson for SpareRoom, comments:"Renting has many benefits over home ownership, including flexibility and the ability to relocate quickly for career opportunities. But when budgets fall short of average rents, in some cases by hundreds of dollars per month, those benefits vanish and renters can end up trapped. In a recent SpareRoom survey, one third of US renters said they'd turned down a job offer to avoid having to move *.
“And there are hidden consequences when people stay put. Not just the long-term impact on renters' finances and mental health, but the knock-on effects for the economy too. Any strategy for growth that relies on jobs means having a fluid and flexible workforce, which just doesn't exist when rents spiral out of reach of the average renter."
See the latest US city room rents, updated quarterly.
See the latest NYC neighborhood room rents, also updated quarterly.