At $2,500 for 1-BR apartment, Miami ranks sixth most expensive among US cities

Zumper, an online rental marketplace platform, released its September National Rent Report, ranking Miami sixth among the most expensive U.S. cities for a one-bedroom apartment.

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Analyzing rental data from more than 1 million active listings, Zumper found that the median asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Miami was $2,500, down 2% from August and 1.6% from September 2025. Two-bedroom rents fell 3% from August to $3,230, a 3.9% decline from a year earlier. Miami was one of two markets in the top 10 to record an annual decline in both bedroom types in September.

Fort Lauderdale also ranked among the top 20 for one-bedroom asking rents, placing 19th with a median of $1,850, down 6.1% from September 2025. Its two-bedroom median was $2,700, a 0.4% increase from a year earlier.

Despite the annual decline in both bedroom types, Miami’s median asking rents exceeded the national median of $1,518 for one-bedroom apartments and $1,903 for two-bedroom apartments. In the national rankings, New York ranked first for one-bedroom asking rent at $4,580, with San Francisco following closely behind at $4,400.

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Nationally, one- and two-bedroom rents were both positive year over year in September for the first time since 2025. Zumper said the national figure masks a market split by geography.

“There really isn’t one U.S. rental market right now,” said Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy. “The common denominator is supply: markets still absorbing the building boom are competing aggressively for renters, while markets that avoided it are tightening quickly.”

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This report was produced by Miami Herald news partner WLRN Public Media.