How do I find a place to rent?

The US rental market is calmer than it was a few years ago: more homes are empty and rents nationally are flat. The hard part for a newcomer is the application, because landlords lean on a US credit history and US income that you don’t have yet.

How tight is the market?

The rental vacancy rate is the share of rental homes that are empty and available. The US Census Bureau put it at 7.3% in April to June 2026, against 7.0% a year earlier. Apartment List, a private data firm, says the national median rent was $1,388 in September 2026, 0.4% lower than a year before, and homes took an average of 34 days to let. That gives renters some room to compare and negotiate, but big cities are much dearer than the national figure and vary street by street.

These are city-wide medians across all listings. Popular central areas cost more: Manhattan, for example, is far above the New York City figure. For a full budget see Cost of living and Choosing a city.

Where homes are listed

• Big rental websites list most homes, from large apartment buildings to single houses. Rents are quoted per month, as in the UK
• Large apartment buildings are often run by a management company with an on-site leasing office. You can often tour and apply the same day
• Ask what the rent includes. Water, heating, parking, a gym and “amenity fees” are sometimes extra
• Facebook and classified sites list real homes, but also many scams. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) says about half of people who reported a rental scam in the year to June 2025 said it started with a Facebook ad. See Rental scams

Tours

You view a home on a “tour”, in person or by live video with the agent. Things to check:

• Heating and air conditioning. Summers in Austin, Miami and Washington DC are hot and humid; winters in Boston and Chicago are cold
• Whether there is a washing machine and dryer in the home, in the building, or none
• Parking, and whether you’ll need a car (see Living without a car)
• Which school district the address is in, if you have children (see Schools)
• Which internet providers serve the address (see Phone and internet)
• Signs of pests, damp or mould, and how repairs are requested

Applying

You apply online and usually pay a fee for the credit and background checks. The landlord checks your identity, income and credit. In New York City many landlords ask for a yearly income of about 40 times the monthly rent, so $104,000 for a $2,600 flat. That is a landlord practice, not a law, and other cities use other rules of thumb.

Standing out with no US credit history

1. Bring your US job offer or contract showing salary and start date
2. Show savings: a recent bank statement helps before your first US payday
3. Bring UK landlord or letting agent references, with contact details that work across time zones
4. If you don’t yet have a Social Security number, ask which checks the landlord can run without one (see Social Security number and US tax)
5. Ask about a guarantor. In New York City, landlords often want a guarantor to earn 80 times the monthly rent, and a guarantor normally has to be US-based, so some renters use a paid guarantor company instead
6. Some landlords take rent in advance. California still allows prepaid rent of at least six months on a lease of six months or longer

Your credit score builds from zero once you have US accounts: see Building a credit score.

Before you sign

Never pay for a long-term home you haven’t seen inside: see Rental scams. Then read Deposits, leases and bills, which covers deposit limits by state, what to check in the lease and setting up the utilities.