As Average Apartment Size Shrinks, Renters Are Finding Best Deals In The Midwest

Part of it is due to the trend of Americans increasingly congregating in trendy cities like NYC, but over the past couple of decades, the amount of square footage enjoyed by the average American renter has decidedly shrunk.

Source: Rentcafe

But in the era of remote work, renters looking to maximize their square footage will be best served by moving to the midwest, with Kansas City, MO emerging as the most obvious candidate among the nation’s major metropolitan areas.

For renters who would be more at home in the suburbs, three small towns outside Kansas City have even more affordable options, according to a recent report from RentCafe.

And if Kansas City doesn’t work, RentCafe has crunched the numbers to highlight some other high-value markets, producing a map of some of the most affordable cities (in terms of value by square footage), which readers can find below.

Source: Rentcafe

Here’s the data represented in another format, which also highlights that the south also offers increasingly strong deals for renters.

Source: Rentcafe

While the Midwest is the locus for the best deals for renters, its antithesis is – not NYC – but the state of California. Just check out the list of least affordable locales.

Source: Rentcafe

You’ll notice they all have one thing in common.