Sticker shock

This Dallas-Fort Worth city sees biggest spike in apartment rents, says new report

Roosevelt at Arlington Commons apartments

The Roosevelt at Arlington Commons offers one- and two-bedroom apartments near all the action in Arlington.

Renters, take note: While apartment rents in Dallas proper are falling, they're rising in some suburbs — especially Arlington.

A report released December 28 by Apartment List shows rents in 2020 skyrocketed 5.1 percent in Arlington, representing the biggest one-year spike in DFW. Apartment List says median rent in Arlington was $1,010 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,230 for a two-bedroom apartment.

In other words, if you want to live between all the action in Dallas and Fort Worth, keep an eye on that upward trend.

Contrast that with Richardson, which saw a year-over-year decrease in median rents (4.8 percent). That was the biggest drop among the Dallas-Fort Worth cities tracked by Apartment List. Median rents in Richardson were $1,230 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,440 for a two-bedroom apartment.

Dallas proper — where rent fell 2.6 percent last year — remains more affordable than most other large cities across the country, the report notes. Nationwide, rents have fallen by 1.5 percent over the past year. A one-bedroom apartment in Dallas runs $980, and two-bedroom, $1,170. By comparison, San Francisco has a median two-bedroom rent of $2,305, which is nearly twice the amount in Dallas.

Still, you have to look at the suburbs to get the complete picture. Rents have risen in six of the largest 10 cities the DFW area for which Apartment List had data. Plano has the most expensive rents in DFW, with a two-bedroom median of $1,528. Fort Worth has the least expensive rents in the area, with a two-bedroom median of $1,116.

In Texas overall, rent declined 2.1 percent last year. A snapshot throughout the state shows:

Houston posted a decrease of 3.5 percent last year. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Houston stood at $900 a month; for a two-bedroom apartment, it was $1,070. However, rents have gone up in five of the 11 largest cities in the Houston metro area.
Rents in in the popular beach destination Galveston dropped 3.5 percent over a year’s time. Median rent there is $890 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,130 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Apartment List.
In Austin, median rents took a year-over-year slide of 5.4 percent, accounting for the biggest fall-off among major Texas cities tracked by Apartment List. Rent was $1,090 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,440 for a two-bedroom apartment.
In San Antonio, median rents slipped 1 percent year over year, with a one-bedroom apartment going for $893 and a two-bedroom apartment for $1,083.

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rent report

Here's how much rent prices have dropped in Dallas-Fort Worth since 2025

Photo by TOM on Unsplash

Rent prices are on the decline in most DFW cities.

Rent prices are falling statewide, and prices in certain Dallas-Fort Worth cities have declined by nearly 8 percent since last year, according to a new national rent report from Zumper.

The Zumper National Rent Report tracked year-over-year and month-over-month rent price changes in 100 U.S. cities for both one- and two-bedroom units using the most recent data available from May 2026.

Plano had the fourth-steepest rent decrease in Texas, with prices for one-bedroom units dipping 7.5 percent year-over-year to $1,360. Two-bedroom rent has dropped 5.5. percent from last year to $1,900.

In Dallas, one-bedroom rent prices fell 5.6 percent to $1,350, and two-bedroom rent is down 6.4 percent since last year to $1,900.

Arlington was the only major Texas city where rent prices increased from May 2025 to May 2026. One-bedroom rent increased nearly 3 percent to $1,090, and two-bedroom rent increased 2.1 percent to $1,480.

The cost for a single-bedroom apartment in Irving is $1,280, or the same price as it was a year ago, the report found. Two-bedroom units are 3 percent cheaper than they were last year, at $1,610.

In Fort Worth, respective rent costs for one- and two-bedroom units come out to $1,240 and $1,560.

Rent prices elsewhere in Texas
San Antonio saw the steepest drop in rent prices statewide, with one-bedroom rents falling by 10.4 percent to $950. Two-bedroom units have declined 6 percent year-over-year to $1,250.

These are the rent prices for other Texas cities in May 2026:

Austin: $1,420 for one-bedroom units; $1,860 for two-bedroom units
El Paso: $810 for one bedroom; $1,130 for two bedrooms
Houston: $1,130 for one bedroom; $1,430 for two bedroom

The report also revealed that four of the 10 U.S. metros offering the most concessions are located in Texas. Austin leads nationally with more than a third of rental units "dangling incentives to fill space," followed by San Antonio, Houston, then Dallas. A separate rent report from real estate data firm CoStar found Dallas-Fort Worth had the fifth highest apartment vacancy rate in the U.S. in March, meaning residents may be able to save on their rent depending on the financial incentives offered by landlords.

Additionally, these same markets offering generous rent concessions are also among the 10 U.S. metros with the largest population growth, which Zumper says signals ongoing tension between tenants and their landlords regarding prices.

"So while Texas absorbed a significant share of the 2023-2025 supply wave, inventory still has to lease up before landlords regain pricing power, and the steady inflow of new residents says the demand is there," the report said. "It’s just a question of when supply stops outrunning it."

From 2023 to 2024, Texas gained nearly 73,000 net new renters, making it the No. 1 magnet for renters nationwide.

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