First, the good news: There are a lot of beautiful major American cities populated with apartment complexes where rent is actually decreasing. (NYC, how'd you get on this list?)

Now, the bad news: Rent is steadily increasing in about 75 percent of the most populated cities in the country.

Finding the cities with the largest rent increases

Apartment Guide analyzed the U.S. Census Bureau's 100 most populated cities and our internal data of average entry-level apartment rental prices to find 10 cities across the country where rent increased by the largest percentage from this time last year.

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As it did in 2018, California tops this list with three cities, but there are eight cities in this top 10 list that are new to the lineup. Here are the cities where you'll pay more to live this year.

10. Sacramento, CA

Shocked to see Sacramento on this list? Don't be. California's capital has a lot going for it. It has a burgeoning art scene, it's suddenly become a “foodie's city" and even though it's about 90 miles away from Silicon Valley, tech employees who've been priced out of San Francisco and Oakland are migrating to its relatively affordable apartments.

The city's average rent has increased close to 11 percent since last year, but the tech boom shows no signs of letting up so Sactown could be higher on this list next year.

9. Fort Worth, TX

According to the Dallas Morning News, the reason why Fort Worth is on this list can be attributed to a few significant factors: Its proximity to Dallas, a large number of job-seeking college grads moving in and tricky zoning laws which make it difficult to develop new apartment complexes. In other words, supply and demand.

Fort Worth has lots of potential renters, but not necessarily lots of apartments, which is why the city's average rent increased 10.8 percent.

8. Long Beach, CA

Long Beach has an incredible educational system, a bustling downtown by the ocean and is one of the 10 most walkable cities in the country. Unfortunately, LBC's rental prices reflect its desirability.

Who gets hit by the city's 11 percent rent increase most? Mostly CSULB students, and anyone who decides to rent downtown near Pine and the neighborhoods that are sand-adjacent (which is sort of all of them).

Maria Lopez, director of Community Organizing at Housing Long Beach says it's a trend that's been gaining steam over the last five years. Here's one more thing to consider: If Long Beach can convince the Los Angeles Angels to leave Anaheim for its proposed stadium by the sea, $2,332 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach will be a novel memory.

7. Cleveland, OH

Cleveland on a list of cities with the highest increase in rent? Absolutely. Thanks to its strong economy, people from Ohio are flocking to Cleveland. Naturally, that means apartments have suddenly become a hot commodity with an 11.1 percent increase in rent, (which resulted in an average of $1,364 for a one-bedroom in the 216).

People who are seeing the biggest spikes in rent are students in the east side's University District, and the Gateway District located downtown.

6. Albuquerque, NM

While Albuquerque has experienced a significant increase in rent with an 11.1 percent spike, locals hope all the current apartment construction brings those numbers down next year.

Like Forth Worth, ABQ's rent is currently trending high because it's suffering from a supply and demand problem with razor-thin vacancy rates.

5. Fort Wayne, IN

Fort Wayne is the first city on this list that made the same list last year. Coming in at number 10 in 2018, Fort Wayne's rent increased close to 12 percent this year with an average of $841 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

That said, Summit City is still one of the most affordable towns in the U.S. to rent in, but with its attractive high livability rate and an influx of new residents, look for it to be even higher on this list next year.

4. North Las Vegas, NV

Football fans know why North Las Vegas has been quietly becoming one of the country's most desired cities to live in — the Raiders will be calling it home for the 2020 season. Of course, that's not the only thing that's raised North Vegas' rental profile.

NLV also has two massive Amazon distribution centers, which made it one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. It's also a young town — the average resident is 33 years old.

And due to its 13.7 percent increase in rent, the city broke the thousand-dollar-a-month threshold at $1,046. But Susy Vasquez, executive director for the Nevada State Apartment Association says North Vegas is still affordable for most renters.

3. Anchorage, AK

How is Anchorage on a list about cities with rapidly increasing rent? After all, there are no tech companies inflating the city, and its residents have been moving away steadily for several years.

But if you look at the numbers, the average renter saw a 19.5 increase in rent in 2019. Sure, a one-bedroom apartment for an average of $1,182 still seems affordable, but why the rent increase of nearly 20 percent?

Anchorage is truly an anomaly in that regard, but Bootlegger's Cove area and southeast Anchorage are why the city ranks so high on this list.

2. Stockton, CA

Even though it's Stockton's first appearance on this list, it's no surprise that the city made the No. 2 spot. Why did its rent increase by an incredible 24.7 percent in 2019? The same reason Sacramento made this list — the tech crunch.

Even though Stockton's a good 80 miles away from Silicon Valley, people who are priced out of San Francisco's average rent of $3,898 are migrating inland in hopes of finding a cheap enough apartment to offset the drive into work.

1. Newark, NJ

If you've been following our annual trend reports on cities where rent is increasing most, you'll recognize Newark at the No. 1 spot on this list for the second year in a row. Why? Staci Berger, president and CEO of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, says "We have a supply and demand problem in New Jersey," not to mention high property taxes.

But renters still flock to Newark for all of its attributes: Great schools, jobs with healthy living wages and of course, it's close proximity to NYC. Still, the city's 30 percent increase in rent with an average of $2,004 for a one-bedroom seems steep.

More cities that will make you dig deeper into your wallet

Unfortunately, these aren't the only big cities in the country where rent is going up. Here are the top 25 cities where it's getting more expensive to live.

Rank City State 2019 1-BR Avg Rent 2018 1-BR Avg Rent YoY Price Change 1 Newark NJ $2,004.73 $1,400.05 30.16% 2 Stockton CA $1,349.25 $1,015.60 24.73% 3 Anchorage AK $1,182.50 $951.47 19.54% 4 North Las Vegas NV $1,046.60 $903.11 13.71% 5 Fort Wayne IN $841.45 $743.21 11.67% 6 Albuquerque NM $871.58 $774.55 11.13% 7 Cleveland OH $1,364.65 $1,212.79 11.13% 8 Long Beach CA $2,332.35 $2,075.00 11.03% 9 Fort Worth TX $1,163.15 $1,037.79 10.78% 10 Sacramento CA $1,560.98 $1,393.95 10.70% 11 Santa Ana CA $1,897.88 $1,695.36 10.67% 12 Saint Louis MO $1,187.18 $1,064.30 10.35% 13 El Paso TX $736.10 $663.42 9.87% 14 Plano TX $1,343.76 $1,216.05 9.50% 15 Jersey City NJ $2,781.34 $2,521.34 9.35% 16 Las Vegas NV $1,108.65 $1,006.36 9.23% 17 Boise ID $1,079.54 $980.31 9.19% 18 Gilbert AZ $1,191.51 $1,085.46 8.90% 19 Henderson NV $1,217.03 $1,118.32 8.11% 20 Hialeah FL $1,332.67 $1,225.00 8.08% 21 Anaheim CA $1,854.17 $1,710.67 7.74% 22 Colorado Springs CO $1,158.01 $1,072.09 7.42% 23 Charlotte NC $1,257.18 $1,166.23 7.23% 24 Tucson AZ $729.93 $678.08 7.10% 25 Irvine CA $2,235.40 $2,079.49 6.97%

Hey, it's not all bad

Before you give up hope on finding an affordable place to live, there are a handful of cities among the 100 most populated where it's actually getting cheaper to live. These are the 10 areas where you'll save the most money compared to last year.

Rank City State 2019 1-BR Avg Rent 2018 1-BR Avg Rent YoY Price Change 1 Des Moines IA $887.75 $1,031.80 -16.23% 2 Durham NC $1,035.31 $1,153.11 -11.38% 3 Bakersfield CA $851.25 $915.91 -7.60% 4 Toledo OH $647.87 $689.12 -6.37% 5 New Orleans LA $1,542.14 $1,626.52 -5.47% 6 New York NY $4,041.75 $4,252.20 -5.21% 7 Madison WI $1,219.86 $1,261.85 -3.44% 8 Milwaukee WI $1,285.25 $1,325.29 -3.12% 9 Wichita KS $849.47 $875.64 -3.08% 10 Nashville TN $1,452.13 $1,493.74 -2.87%

Methodology

We compared one-bedroom rent price changes from August 2019 to August 2018 in the 100 most populated cities in the country based on the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 population estimate to find the cities where rent prices have increased by the greatest percentage.

The rent information included in this article is based on August 2019 multifamily rental property inventory on Apartment Guide and Rent.com and is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein does not constitute financial advice or a pricing guarantee for any apartment.

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