Rental Market Trends in California
$2,208/month
Average Rent
+1.4%
Increase in the Last Year
+$30
Average Price Increase
Ranked 4th
Most Expensive Rent by State
141,866
Available Rentals
Bakersfield, CA
City with the Lowest Rent
What is the average rent in California?
As of December 2025, the average rent in California is $2,208/month. When you rent an apartment in California, you can expect some variability depending on the region. For instance, metropolitan areas may have higher rents than smaller towns and rural areas. In general, you can expect to pay about $1,868 per month for a studio, $2,208 for a one-bedroom apartment, and around $2,626 for a two-bedroom apartment in California. If you opt for a three-bedroom rental, you could pay $3,290 or more.
Rent by City
What are the most affordable cities in California?
Based on current rent prices, the cheapest cities in California to live are Bakersfield, Stockton and Fresno.
What are the most expensive cities in California?
Based on current rent prices, the most expensive cities in California to live are San Francisco, Irvine and Sunnyvale.
Nearby State Markets
Rental management, simplified
Our all-in-one suite of property manangement software makes the rental process easy. Screen tenants, manage payments, and more – all on Apartments.com
Learn More with Helpful Articles
Methodology
† Rent data is provided by CoStar Group’s Market Trend reports. As the industry leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, and news, CoStar conducts extensive research to produce and maintain a comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. We combine this data with public record to provide the most up-to-date rental information available.
State graphics provided by ProPublica
Copyright (c) 2012, ProPublica
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copyof this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.