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Time Out
25-06-2025
- Business
- Time Out
NYC apparently doesn't have the highest average rent in America—frankly, we're flabbergasted
New Yorkers are used to finishing first in many categories— bagels, Broadway, complaining—but according to a new report, our signature pastime of rent-related suffering might not top the charts anymore. That's right: As of February 2025, New York City no longer holds the crown for highest average rent in America. Pause for dramatic gasp. SmartAsset's latest ranking, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index (ZORI), puts Boston at the top of the rent mountain, with an average monthly price tag of $3,495 for all homes. New York came in just behind at $3,489. Yes, by a mere $6, the financial equivalent of an oat milk latte. But don't get too comfortable. New York City rents did rise more steeply year over year, jumping 4.14-percent compared to Boston's 4.06-percent. And if you're a numbers person, you'll know that makes our rent pain a little more acute. Still, neither city saw the biggest hike: That dubious honor belongs to Newark, New Jersey, where rents surged 8.11-percent in just one year. From $2,073 to $2,241, Newark's five-year climb totals a whopping 46.5-percent, giving fresh ammo to New Yorkers who never bought the 'Jersey is cheaper' narrative. The rest of the top five reads like a California dream turned financial nightmare: San Francisco ($3,368), Irvine ($3,306) and San Jose ($3,131) rounded out the most expensive markets. California dominated the top 10 with five cities, proving that sunshine still costs a premium. SmartAsset analyzed rental data across 100 U.S. cities, comparing 2025 prices to 2024 and 2020. While renters in NYC may feel slightly vindicated, the reality is still grim: Our average rent is 144-percent higher than the national average, according to So no, we're not the most expensive anymore—but we're still painfully close. And until the day a one-bedroom drops below $2,000 without including a shower in the kitchen, we reserve the right to keep complaining.
Boston Globe
09-06-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
As housing costs rise in Boston, homelessness soars in the cities that surround it
Related : Advertisement 'We've reached a critical mass in Brockton,' said City Councilor Winthrop Farwell. 'Our city is at the center of what is really a societal crisis, and there is no good answer for how we're supposed to go about handling it.' There are many causes of homelessness. But local leaders point to one in particular to explain the recent surge: the soaring cost of housing. People gathered underneath the commuter rail tracks in Brockton on May 22. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff As people priced out of Boston flock to places like Brockton, Worcester, and Lowell — attracted by their cheaper housing costs and accessible commutes — rents in those once-affordable cities are rising at a rapid clip. That's bringing investment to cities that have long struggled to attract it, but it is also stretching longtime lower-income residents to the breaking point. Advertisement It's a vexing cycle. As encampments have cropped up, local officials are struggling to balance the needs of their poorest residents and the logistical, and ethical, problems their tents present. Related : 'We do what we can to help as many people who need it,' said Jason Etheridge, executive director of Lifebridge North Shore, a Salem-based nonprofit that runs shelters and supportive apartments in several cities north of Boston. 'There are forces in the economy that have made it much easier to become homeless. At a certain point, shelters can't fix that.' Before the past few years, Brockton had made significant progress on homelessness. There is limited data counting homeless people in most municipalities, but in 2021, officials counted 943 in a federally-designated area south of Boston that includes Brockton, Quincy, Plymouth, and Weymouth, the fewest since 2008. By 2024, that number had doubled to 1,885, the highest number since tracking began in 2005. The trends are similar in Fall River, New Bedford, Lynn, and Several things changed during the pandemic that have fueled the surge, said Joyce Tavon, CEO of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, including increased rates of substance abuse and mental illness among residents of the state. But the biggest difference was the explosion of housing costs in the years that followed. Related : In Brockton, the median price for a single-family home has risen nearly 50 percent in the last five years, from $339,900 in 2020 to $500,000 in 2025, according to the real estate website Redfin. While there is limited rental data for Brockton, rents in nearby Fall River rose nearly 80 percent over five years to $1,807 a month in April, according to Zillow's Observed Rent Index. In Lowell, rents jumped 45 percent over that period, to $2,273. Advertisement That has hit 'We're talking about people whose lives are incredibly fragile, because they're living paycheck to paycheck making just enough to support themselves or their family,' said Tavon. 'All it takes is one thing to go wrong — an eviction or a medical bill — for everything to fall apart.' Related : The state has long targeted its 26 formally-defined 'gateway cities' for economic development because of their relatively affordable land and old industrial buildings that can be converted to other uses. Those goals are finally being realized due to newfound demand, and many have seen their downtowns transformed with shiny new apartment buildings, restaurants, and street life. That demand is also taking a toll. Father Bill's & MainSpring's new shelter/supportive housing site in Brockton. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Off Route 24 in Brockton, a new shelter run by the homeless nonprofit Father Bill's & MainSpring is part of a broader housing resource center that includes permanent supportive apartments for formerly homeless people in an adjacent building. It contains 128 overnight beds and a day center with caseworkers. The new center opened last month, but it is still nowhere near enough to meet the city's needs, said John Yazwinski, president and CEO of the nonprofit. On a recent tour, Yazwinksi pointed out the spare cots he keeps handy in case the overnight beds fill up, which happens frequently. It can be disheartening, he said. Advertisement 'To a certain extent, you will always have some amount of homelessness that's related to mental health and addiction,' he said. 'But what we're seeing now, while those factors are certainly a part of it, is driven by the housing market.' Related : Jerome Jarrett knows too well how that can happen. Jarrett lives in a subsidized apartment with supportive services from Father Bill's. Before that, he spent five years bouncing between shelters. Losing his job led to an eviction, and he struggled to find new work during the pandemic and a place he could afford after that. 'I have a home now, which I am very proud of,' said Jarrett, who is 57, as he sat near the window of his new, modern-looking apartment. 'I also have a new perspective on how easy it is to lose something like this and end up with nothing.' Jerome Jerrett is living in a supportive housing unit at Father Bill's & Mainspring new housing center. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff The surge in homelessness has prompted something of a municipal emergency in Brockton and places like it. Last winter, so many tents appeared in downtown Brockton that local business owners complained to the City Council, with some saying they would have to close if the problem persisted. Howard Wright, who owns a small technology firm that was based out of a building near a popular gathering spot for homeless people, moved his business to Taunton over concerns about the safety of downtown. 'Brockton is my home,' Wright said. 'But my employees don't feel safe. I can't expect to run a business under these circumstances.' Related : In November, Advertisement Other cities, including Lowell and Fall River, No solution seems particularly satisfactory. Advocates decry camping bans as inhumane, and even some business owners reject the idea. Abandoned clothes were left on top a stone post near Perkins Park in Brockton, where homeless folks gathered before the city's camping ban went into effect. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff One Gateway city trying for a middle ground is Salem, 40 miles to the north of Brockton. City officials there passed a camping ban last year, but one that only allows encampments to be cleared when the city has shelter space available. Then they used leftover pandemic funds to open a supplementary overnight shelter downtown, which allowed them to tear down a prominent encampment near the waterfront business district. The new Salem shelter is informal at best, run by Lifebridge out of warehouse space next to a popular thrift store that the nonprofit also runs. The tall open room full of cots gets crowded quickly, said Ethridge, the executive director, and it still feels like there are too few beds. Related : It's a temporary solution to a problem that has been long in the making, city officials said. 'Our thinking is that everyone deserves a home, and a tent is not a home,' said Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo. 'We're starting at that point, and then thinking about creating enough housing that folks don't need to be living in a shelter.' To be sure, Salem is a wealthier community than Brockton, and not every city has extra money to spend on a new shelter. Father Bill's new facility was mostly paid for with donations. But the collision of homelessness and gentrification in places like Brockton won't be solved through charity alone. Advertisement 'What we're dealing with downtown is heartbreaking,' said Mary Waldron, executive director of Brockton's Old Colony Planning Council, which is based in a historic building downtown. 'People are struggling and we don't want to punish them for that. But we also want to have a thriving downtown. There is no simple answer here.' Andrew Brinker can be reached at
CBS News
25-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Study finds renting nearly 200% cheaper than buying in San Francisco, San Jose
While having some of the highest rents in the nation, renting a home in San Francisco and San Jose is nearly 200% cheaper than paying a mortgage for one, a new study finds. According to Bankrate, San Francisco had the nation's widest gap between average rent and the average mortgage payment over the last two years. While the typical monthly rent was at $3,055 a month, the typical monthly payment on a mortgage was $8,882, a gap of 190.7%. Also having a similarly wide gap between renting and buying is San Jose, where the typical monthly rent was at $3,305, but the monthly mortgage payment was $9,438. The gap of 185.6% is the second widest in the country. Rounding out the top five areas with the largest differences between buying and renting are Seattle (119.5%), Denver (96.5%) and Salt Lake City (90.4%). In California's Central Valley, where many people priced out of the Bay Area market have bought homes, the website also found renting was also significantly cheaper than buying. The typical monthly rent in Sacramento was 56% less than the typical mortgage ($2,310 rent vs. $3,619 mortgage), while renting was 32% cheaper than a mortgage in Fresno ($2,015 rent vs. $2,600 mortgage). The financial website found that renting a home is cheaper than paying a mortgage in all of the nation's 50 largest metros. The lowest gap between renting and buying is in Detroit, Michigan, where the typical monthly rent was $1,481 and the typical mortgage payment was $1,515, a gap of only 2.3%. For it's analysis, Bankrate used Zillow's Observed Rent Index and Redfin's median sale price data from February 2024. The website also factored in the typical cost of renter's insurance to come up with its monthly rent numbers. For mortgages, the website assumed a 20% down payment, no HOA fees or private mortgage insurance, the average homeowner's insurance rate and average property taxes for a given metro and the national average 30-year-mortgage rate on March 27, which was 7.01%. Bankrate did not account for other upfront and ongoing costs of buying or renting, such as closing costs, maintenance, rental applications or security deposits.
