What One Month’s S.F. Rent Gets You In Other Millennial Cities

We can’t say that we were surprised when we learned that San Francisco was high on the list of cities where millennials can’t afford to buy homes these days. What did surprise us was how many of our “backup cities” — diverse, interesting locales with amazing food, music, and art scenes that we have on our radar if (when) we get priced out of S.F. — were also on that list.

So, if we're not buying, we're stuck renting — which in a city like ours is definitely not a good thing. According to Rent Jungle, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in S.F. was $3,213 per month as of May 2015; two-bedrooms average at $4,385. The San Francisco Chronicle reports local landlords collected an average of $3,458 in the first quarter of 2015. And, as we well know, often that rent can be for an apartment the size of a walk-in closet in an “up-and-coming” part of the city.

Would the rental market in other cities around the U.S. prove to be as pricey? We stacked up S.F. listings, ranging from $3,000 to $4,400 per month, against similarly priced listings in other millennial-friendly cities around the country. What we found could be enough to inspire a quick relocation strategy. Take a look at our head-to-head listings and decide!