While down year over year, Alexandria’s median apartment rental rate is still more than 16% above the onset of the pandemic and 28% more than during the worst of Covid-19.
The city’s median rent of $2,234 — $2,046 for one-bedroom units, $2,513 for two bedrooms — was down 3.1% in June from a year before, according to figures released June 30 by Apartment List.
The overall median rent also was down month over month. While the decline was only a dollar — from $2,235 in May — it broke a five-month streak of increases and ran against typical seasonal rhythms.
Despite the decline, Alexandria’s median rent remained 3% above the metro area’s median rate. And it remained well above Covid-era figures.
In April 2020, as the pandemic hit the region, the city’s median rent was calculated at $1,922. By January 2021, it had bottomed out at $1,746 before beginning a rebound that continued until last year:
- 2021: Alexandria rents rose 14.8% from the previous year
- 2022: Rents rose 1.9%
- 2023: Rents rose 3.7%
- 2024: Rents rose 3.2%
- 2025: Rents declined 3.1%
For the first six months of 2026, rents were up 3.6%. But that is likely reflective of seasonal growth as winter gave way to spring and may not last the full year.
Nationally, the median rent across the U.S. in June was $1,385. That was the fifth consecutive monthly increase, but it was down 1.2% year over year.
According to Apartment List analysts:
“We are now in the middle of the peak summer moving season, and as such, we’ll likely see prices continue to increase for another month or two, before the fall cooldown begins. This trend is in line with typical seasonal patterns — prices generally increase in the spring and summer when most moves take place, and then soften in the fall and winter as moving activity slows. The broad contours of this seasonal pattern are a dependable trend, but in recent years we’ve seen sharper winter dips and more modest summer bumps as the market has gone through a soft spell amid a wave of new multifamily construction. As a result, full year rent growth has been negative for each of the past three years.”
Nationally, rental prices peaked in mid-2022 after a year and a half of skyrocketing growth, Apartment List analysts said.
Since then rents have been drifting downward, falling about 4%, or $57 per month, from the market peak.
“Despite the pullback in prices, today’s rent levels remain 21% higher than they were at the start of 2021,” the analysts said.
Across the D.C. metro area, the median June rental cost was $2,168.
Each month, Apartment List ranks the top 100 urban areas by price. Four California localities topped the rankings: $3,558 in San Francisco, $3,058 in San Jose, $3,046 in Irvine and $2,929 in Fremont.
Rounding out the top five was Arlington, with a median rental rate of $2,601.
At the other end of the scale, the most affordable median rents were found in Toledo ($895), Detroit ($1,036) and Tucson ($1,040).
Nationally, the vacancy rate has been relatively stable since mid-2025. It was 7.2% in June.
“Despite being on the downslope of the construction boom for nearly two years, the market had been struggling to absorb the swell of new inventory,” Apartment List analysts said. “That may finally be changing, as we see multifamily occupancy also hitting an inflection point in tandem with rent growth.”
Zumper: Supply issues driving market conditions
Another firm that analyzes rent trends, Zumper, found that for the first time since May 2025, the median U.S. one-bedroom rent was in positive year-over-year territory, rising 0.4% to $1,526. The median rental rate for two-bedroom units was essentially flat at $1,905.
“The biggest story in housing is still supply,” Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy said, adding:
“The national average hides what’s really happening — rent trends are diverging sharply by market, and the common denominator is inventory. Where supply remains elevated, rents are still soft, although the declines are moderating. Where supply is constrained, rents are rising, sometimes aggressively.”
The national rent index “is simply the midpoint between those two realities,” Mullahy added.
The biggest year-over-year increase in June was in San Francisco, where rents were up a whopping 22% — to a median $4,060 for one-bedroom units and $5,700 for two bedrooms.
Rounding out the top five percentage increases were St. Louis, Chicago, Providence (R.I.) and Virginia Beach.
Areas seeing the largest declines were Houston, Austin, Henderson (Nev.), San Antonio and Memphis.
Photo via Brian Zajac/Unsplash
