College Station behind Miami and L.A. for nation's toughest rental markets





Source: Zillow

less There's trouble in Aggieland. College Station is pretty high up on real estate site Zillow's list of the toughest rental markets in the country. The following are those markets and the percentage number that denotes the percent of median gross income taken up by monthly rental rates. There's trouble in Aggieland. College Station is pretty high up on real estate site Zillow's list of the toughest rental markets in the country. The following are those markets and the percentage number that ... more Photo: PAUL J. RICHARDS, AFP/Getty Images Photo: PAUL J. RICHARDS, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close College Station behind Miami and L.A. for nation's toughest rental markets 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Renting a place in Aggieland is among the toughest spots in the country, according to a real estate website.

Relative to median income, the average cost of rent in College Station is the third-highest in the country, according to real estate site Zillow.

Only Miami and Los Angeles have a higher rent to income ratio.

"It's getting harder for a family with a modest income to find something affordable to rent," College Station spokesman Jay Socol said.

College Station rent expenses now account for nearly 42 percent of monthly income for its residents, up from 24 percent in 2000, according to Zillow's stats.

According to Forbes, College Station's current median household income is $42,074.



The city was also just listed seventh in the top 10 most increasingly prosperous Texas cities.



Socol said the population has now crossed over 100,000, and reaching that mark is pushing the city into places they didn't imagine. Texas A&M's continued growth means that more non-students are needed to support the city's infrastructure.

"We're a fast growing comunity and A&M is accepting more and more students," said Socol. Even without counting all the students the population would still be pretty formidable, he said.

Attention coming from all of the economic lists they pop up on is getting the city on the radar of businesses looking for new places to set up shop, too.

Here are the top 10 cities where rent prices are highest relative to median gross income, according to Zillow. The percentage number to the right of each city denotes the percent of median gross income taken up by monthly rental rates: