As a member of Congress, Anthony D. Weiner lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Forest Hills, Queens. He was raised in Brooklyn, the son of a math teacher and a lawyer. And just last week, as he continued to explore entering the Democratic race for mayor, he released a policy booklet about keeping New York City livable for the middle class.

Being that middle-class guy from Brooklyn has long been central to Mr. Weiner’s appeal and his platforms. And though his political star has taken a radical tumble, in other ways, it appears he has moved up in the world.

Mr. Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, are renting a four-bedroom apartment on 20th Street and Park Avenue South, owned by the real estate company of a longtime Clinton donor. It is an apartment that would fetch an estimated market rent of $13,000 per month.

The Weiner family and their landlord say the arrangement is nothing special — an apartment found through standard means in exchange for a market rent. But for many New York politicians, the frenzied process of finding a rental apartment is considerably smoothed by who you know, and by who knows you.