- Austin and Philadelphia offer average roommate rents under $900 per month, and year-on-year rent decreases outpacing other US metros.
- According to SpareRoom's Q2 2025 rental index, which reveals roommate rents in 22 metro areas, the least expensive are Las Vegas ($872) and Philadelphia ($881).
- Two Texas metros are top and bottom of the index for YOY rent changes: Houston saw the highest increase in Q2 (+5.3%), while Austin saw the biggest drop (-4.7%).
Rental index data from roommate site SpareRoom, which compares the top 22 US metro areas, reveals two metro areas with sub-$900 per month rents as well as year-on year decreases in rent. Austin has seen the biggest year-on-year fall in rent in Q2 (-4.7%) and rents in the metro area are now $891 per month.
The average roommate rent in Philadelphia is now $881 per month, and it has seen the second highest year-on-year decrease in rents (-4.2%). Both cities have undergone apartment-building booms that have boosted rental supply.
Meanwhile, average rents in two Texas metropolitan areas are heading in opposite directions. Although rents in Houston ($890 per month) and Austin ($891 per month) are now level, Houston's have risen 5.3% year on year while Austin's have dropped by 4.7%.
Of the top 22 metro areas, Las Vegas is currently the cheapest place to rent as a roommate at $872 per month, though rents here have seen a 1.2% year-on-year increase in Q2. New York is the most expensive metro at $1,530 per month, and rents here are rising 1.7% year on year.
In a Feb 2025 survey of 731 US roommates by SpareRoom, 72% said they were spending more than 30% of their take-home pay on rent, and 36% of roommates were spending more than half.
Matt Hutchinson, director of roommate site SpareRoom, comments: “It's interesting to see the effects of boosted supply on rents in cities that have prioritized and enabled apartment building at scale. But there are still many areas where renting as a roommate - typically the most affordable way to live - isn't actually affordable at all. Too many roommates tell us the proportion of their income spent on rent is much too high.”
| Metro area | Average monthly roommate rent Q2 2025 | Average monthly roommate rent Q2 2024 | Year on year % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston, TX | $890 | $845 | 5.3 |
| 2 | San Francisco Bay Area, CA | $1,307 | $1,266 | 3.2 |
| 3 | Boston, MA, NH | $1,354 | $1,323 | 2.3 |
| 4 | Tampa, FL | $976 | $957 | 2.0 |
| 5 | Dallas, TX | $919 | $903 | 1.8 |
| 6 | New York, NJ, NY | $1,530 | $1,505 | 1.7 |
| 7 | Las Vegas, NV | $872 | $862 | 1.2 |
| 8 | Sacramento, CA | $963 | $958 | 0.5 |
| 9 | Los Angeles, CA | $1,338 | $1,334 | 0.3 |
| 10 | San Diego, CA | $1,301 | $1,303 | -0.2 |
| 11 | Atlanta, GA | $946 | $949 | -0.3 |
| 12 | Seattle, WA | $1,045 | $1,049 | -0.4 |
| 13 | Denver, CO | $1,039 | $1,044 | -0.5 |
| 14 | Riverside, CA | $1,019 | $1,025 | -0.6 |
| 15 | Chicago, IL,IN,WI | $992 | $1,001 | -0.9 |
| 16 | Orlando, FL | $901 | $917 | -1.7 |
| 17 | Washington D.C. DC,MD,VA,WV | $1,123 | $1,145 | -1.9 |
| 18 | Phoenix, AZ | $936 | $957 | -2.2 |
| 19 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | $1,166 | $1,200 | -2.8 |
| 20 | Miami, FL | $1,364 | $1,413 | -3.5 |
| 21 | Philadelphia, MD,NJ,PA | $881 | $920 | -4.2 |
| 22 | Austin, TX | $891 | $935 | -4.7 |
| USA | $913 | $936 | -2.5 |