New Yorkers may feel like the rent hikes never end, but it turns out that Newark, New Jersey residents are at the biggest disadvantage.
Just a quick train ride from Lower Manhattan, Newark had the fastest-growing rent in the New York Metropolitan area in February, according to a recent New York Metro Area Report by the online rental marketplace Zumper. Median rents for one-bedrooms in the New Jersey transportation hub grew 16.7% year-over-year.
Newark’s median rent increase was trailed by New York downstate metros White Plains and Newburgh, which logged 13.5% and 12.3% spikes, respectively.
A significant year-over-year decrease in rental prices earned Bayonne, New Jersey a spot at the bottom of the list. The small city is just across the bay from Newark and only a stone’s throw from Staten Island, but median rent in Bayonne plummeted in February by 15.6% year-over-year.
A one-bedroom in Bayonne, as of last month, will run you about $1,890.
While Newark and Bayonne are currently poles apart in annual rent growth, both cities were recently identified as the top two most affordable locations to buy a home near Manhattan.
Upstate Kingston clocked in as the cheapest city in the metropolitan area for renters, with a median price of $1,500 for a one-bed — though Kingston is not located off a commuter rail line. The former state capital is closely followed by Bridgeport, Connecticut — which is — at $1,650 per month and Paterson, New Jersey at $1,730 per month.
But the metropolitan area’s most expensive places to rent endure, unlikely to budge — NYC topped the median rent list at $4,330 for a one-bedroom, succeeded by New Jersey hotspots Hoboken, at $3,510, and Jersey City, at $3,050.
According to Zumper, you’re better off renting outside of those three cities. The median one-bedroom rent across the entire New York metropolitan area was just $2,486 in February.