September 2020 Los Angeles Rent Report Welcome to the September 2020 Los Angeles Rent Report. Los Angeles rents declined over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Los Angeles rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.

Los Angeles rents declined slightly over the past month Los Angeles rents have declined 0.2% over the past month, and are down moderately by 1.2% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Los Angeles stand at $1,354 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,740 for a two-bedroom. This is the fifth straight month that the city has seen rent decreases after an increase in March. Los Angeles' year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 0.1%, as well as the national average of 0.3%.

Rent trends vary across the Los Angeles Metro While rent prices have decreased in Los Angeles over the past year, the rest of the metro is seeing varying rent trends. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in the Los Angeles metro, half have seen increases, while the other half have been decreasing. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro. Lancaster has the least expensive rents in the Los Angeles metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,655; the city has also experienced the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 3.0%.

Over the past year, Huntington Beach has seen the biggest rent drop in the metro, with a decline of 1.9%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $2,354, while one-bedrooms go for $1,832.

Irvine has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Los Angeles metro, with a two-bedroom median of $2,714; rents increased 0.3% over the past month but fell 1.2% over the past year.

Comparable cities nationwide show more affordable rents compared to Los Angeles As rents have fallen moderately in Los Angeles, a few other large cities nationwide have seen prices increase, in some cases substantially. Compared to most similar cities across the country, Los Angeles is less affordable for renters. Although rents across cities in California have been slightly on the rise, the state's growth as a whole has held steady over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 0.0% in San Diego.

Los Angeles' median two-bedroom rent of $1,740 is above the national average of $1,195. Nationwide, rents have held steady over the past year.

While rents in Los Angeles fell moderately over the past year, the city of Phoenix saw an increase of 1.7%.

Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Los Angeles than most other large cities. For example, Houston has a median 2BR rent of $1,022, where Los Angeles is more than one-and-a-half times that price.

For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S. at this link.

City Median 1BR Rent Median 2BR Rent M/M Rent Growth Y/Y Rent Growth Los Angeles $1,350 $1,740 -0.2% -1.2% Long Beach $1,390 $1,780 0.1% 0.3% Anaheim $1,670 $2,150 0.1% 0.4% Santa Ana $1,450 $1,860 0.1% -1% Irvine $2,110 $2,710 0.3% -1.2% Glendale $1,390 $1,790 -0.4% 0 Huntington Beach $1,830 $2,350 0 -1.9% Santa Clarita $2,090 $2,680 1.1% 0 Garden Grove $1,640 $2,100 0.3% -0.1% Lancaster $1,290 $1,650 0.3% 3% Palmdale $1,480 $1,910 0.4% 1.5% Pomona $1,120 $1,430 0.6% -2.2% Torrance $1,620 $2,080 0 -0.4% Pasadena $1,610 $2,060 -0.2% -1.8% Orange $1,810 $2,320 0.1% 0.1% Fullerton $1,570 $2,020 0.1% 0.5% El Monte $1,460 $1,880 0 13.3% Downey $1,570 $2,020 0 -0.4% Costa Mesa $1,840 $2,360 0.2% 0.2% West Covina $1,820 $2,330 0.6% 0.6% Norwalk $1,600 $2,060 0 -0.1% Burbank $1,600 $2,060 -0.2% -1% South Gate $990 $1,270 0 1.4% Mission Viejo $2,100 $2,700 0.5% -2% Carson $1,590 $2,050 0.7% 20% Santa Monica $1,700 $2,180 -0.9% 1.9% Westminster $1,620 $2,080 0.3% 3.3% Newport Beach $2,900 $3,730 0.5% 4.8% Hawthorne $1,270 $1,630 0 1.7% Lake Forest $2,010 $2,580 0.4% 4.8% Bellflower $1,350 $1,740 0 -0.5% Tustin $1,980 $2,540 0.3% 2.2% Redondo Beach $1,930 $2,490 0.1% 4.6% San Clemente $2,370 $3,060 0.2% 2.5% Laguna Niguel $1,780 $2,280 0.7% -1.7% Fountain Valley $1,840 $2,370 0.3% -2.6% Paramount $1,490 $1,910 0.7% 1.5% Placentia $2,080 $2,680 0.4% -1.1% Rancho Santa Margarita $2,040 $2,630 0.3% 0.9% Rancho Palos Verdes $3,880 $4,980 0 -0.2% Brea $2,030 $2,610 0 2.9% West Hollywood $2,020 $2,590 -0.1% 5.2% Beverly Hills $2,680 $3,440 0 5.1% San Dimas $1,940 $2,490 0.9% 4% Dana Point $2,130 $2,730 0.7% 3.2% Laguna Hills $1,910 $2,450 0.4% -3.3% Seal Beach $1,840 $2,360 -0.1% -1% Calabasas $2,460 $3,160 0 -0.8% Laguna Beach $2,140 $2,750 0.7% 5.8% Agoura Hills $2,270 $2,910 0.7% -1.7% Hermosa Beach $2,020 $2,600 0.1% -0.1% Stevenson Ranch $2,780 $3,570 1.1% -0.5% Marina del Rey $3,510 $4,510 -0.7% -4.4% See More

Methodology - Recent Updates:

Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.

Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.

Methodology:

Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.

Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.

Read more about our methodology here.

About Rent Reports:

Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.

We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.