New York City rents are continuing on their upward trajectory, and they’re expected to climb even higher thanks to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs—with two boroughs set to take the biggest hit.
While there is a 90-day pause in effect on Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs announced earlier this month on dozens of countries, the 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that were imposed in March are still very much active.
And that could spell bad news for New York City’s developers and renters alike, because steel and aluminum are crucial to the construction of buildings in the nation’s most populous metro perennially plagued by housing shortages.
“By inflating building costs, these tariffs could deter builders from initiating new projects and compel developers to pause or scrap existing plans,” says Realtor.com® economist Jiayi Xu in the new New York City Rental Report.
Among the Big Apple’s five boroughs, Manhattan and the Bronx are poised to suffer the most from the imposition of Trump’s tariffs on construction materials, victims of their own success.
Last year, the two neighborhoods registered the fastest growth rates in newly permitted multifamily homes, at 24.6% and 24.2%, respectively, compared with their 2019–23 averages.
And because they posted the largest gains, Manhattan and the Bronx now stand to lose the most from the tariffs, which threaten to disrupt the construction of much-needed housing.
Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island are not immune to the soaring development costs either. Even though the three boroughs saw a dip in permit activity, Xu says the tariffs could make things even worse by curbing new construction applications and raising rent levels across the board.
New York City rents continue to surge
During the first three months of 2025, the median asking rent in New York City increased to $3,397, an uptick of 5.6%, or $179, compared with the same period a year ago.
Rents soared across all boroughs, but true to its reputation as America’s most expensive metro, Manhattan led the surge with the most dramatic increase of 5.5% year over year, or $235, driving the median asking rent up to an eye-watering $4,495 a month.
Brooklyn, the city’s most populous section, was not too far behind its more affluent neighbor to the north, with the median asking rent there climbing to $3,748, up $178, or 5%, from last spring.
In Queens, rents rose 4.3%, to $3,298, while the Bronx registered the most modest uptick of 0.7%, reaching $3,010. Data for Staten Island was not immediately available because it was under review.
Compared with spring 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the median asking rent in New York City was more than 18%, or $521, higher.
Meanwhile, quarterly rental report shows that smaller units ranging from a studio to two bedrooms were in greater demand than larger apartments.
From January to March, the median asking rent for 0-2 bedrooms across the city was $3,365, representing a 7.2%, or $226, surge from last year.
Meanwhile, more sprawling rentals boasting three bedrooms or more saw a modest increase of 1.2%, or $56, reaching a median price of $4,773.
A zoomed-out look at the city’s rental market from the pre-pandemic era to the beginning of 2025 reveals an unexpected twist: The lower-cost boroughs saw the largest percentage increases in rent.
The Bronx saw the most drastic increase in median asking rents over the past five years, at a staggering 41.2%, followed by Brooklyn with a nearly 40% surge, pointing to rapidly growing demand in these traditionally more affordable areas.
On the other hand, high-priced Manhattan saw its median asking rents shimmy up by just 0.2% since the beginning of 2020.
How much you need to earn to live in the Big Apple
New York City might be the concrete jungle where dreams are made, but living there does not come cheap, as the Realtor.com report shows.
To afford renting a typical unit in four of the five boroughs, excluding Staten Island, while following the 30% income rule of thumb, which recommends people spend no more than 30% of their gross monthly income on housing costs, tenants would need to bring in between $10,000 and $15,000 per month.
Predictably, renting an apartment in Manhattan calls for the highest monthly income of $14,983, followed closely by Brooklyn, with $12,493.
Queens and the Bronx are slightly more affordable, so renters there have to make $10,933 and $10,033, respectively.
This translates to annual household incomes of $179,796 in Manhattan, $149,916 in Brooklyn, $131,196 in Queens, and $120,396 in the Bronx.
The trouble is that actual median household incomes across the boroughs fall dramatically short of what’s recommended, with gaps ranging from about 61% in Queens to a stunning 161% in the Bronx, forcing tenants to spend well over 30% on housing and utilities just to keep a roof over their heads.