The typical asking rent in the Bay Area in 2024 was $2,999 per month
Between 2015 and 2024, regional typical asking rent reached a peak of $3,245 per month in 2017
After the pandemic, the regional typical monthly asking rent decreased by 1.3% from 2021 to 2024
Introduction
What does it cost to rent housing?
Asking rents are influenced by vacancy rates and housing regulations. The asking rents data for currently available units sheds light on the cost of housing for new renters. Asking rents have a direct impact on housing decisions made by new residents moving into – and current residents moving within – a region. High asking rents show the financial downside of a move for current renters, and serve as an additional barrier to potential new residents finding housing.
Regional Performance
Inflation-adjusted asking rents have declined for the region as a whole between 2015 and 2024.
In 2024, the typical asking rent in the Bay Area was $2,999 per month, compared with $3,196 per month in 2015 (a decrease of $198). Between 2015 and 2024, regional typical asking rent reached a peak of $3,245 per month in 2017 and hit a low of $2,999 per month in 2024. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the regional typical asking rent decreased by 5.7% from 2019 to 2021, and has continued to decrease since, falling another 1.3% between 2021 and 2024.
Between 2015 and 2024, asking rents in more expensive areas in the region have fallen towards the regional value, while historically cheaper areas have risen towards the regional value. For example, in 2015, the gap between the counties with the highest and lowest typical monthly asking rents was $2,280 (ranging from $2,018 in Solano County to $4,299 in San Francisco County). By 2024, this gap narrowed to $1,212 per month (ranging from $2,459 in Solano County to $3,671 in Marin County).
Between 2015 to 2024, Solano County had the highest increase in typical asking rents (increase of $441 per month from $2,018 in 2015 to $2,459 in 2024)
Between 2015 to 2024, San Francisco County had the highest decrease in typical asking rents (decrease of $1,005 per month from $4,299 in 2015 to $3,294 in 2024)
Historical Trend for Asking Rents
Regional Distribution
Throughout the region, asking rents vary by sub-region and housing type, but asking rents for single-family housing are higher across the board.
The Bay Area can be divided into sub-regions known as Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). In 2024, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara MSA had the highest monthly asking rent at $3,259. The monthly Bay Area MSA rent gap narrowed from $1,548 in 2015 ($1,997 in Vallejo to $3,544 in San Jose) to $828 in 2024 ($2,431 in Vallejo to $3,259 in San Jose). Vallejo saw the largest increase, up $434 per month. Overall, urban areas decreased to be closer to the regional value, while suburban areas increased toward the regional value.
Single-family homes remain pricier than multi-family homes, with the smallest gap in Vallejo in 2016 of $453 per month ($2,506 vs. $2,053). The average gap for monthly rents between single-family homes and multi-family homes is about $848. In 2024, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara posted the highest rents ($4,268 single-family, $3,065 multi-family). From 2015 to 2024, multi-family rents in urban areas declined, led by San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont (down $484 per month).
In 2024, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA had the highest typical asking rent for multi-family homes, at $3,065 per month
Between 2015 to 2024, the Vallejo monthly MSA had the highest increase in typical asking rents (a change of $558 from $2,411 in 2015 to $2,969 in 2024) for single-family homes
Asking Rents by Subregion and Housing Type (2015-2024)
Click on an MSA on the map to see time series trends.
Local Focus
In recent years, Silicon Valley has outpaced the region in typical asking rent prices.
While economic booms have historically driven the highest rent growth in job centers like San Francisco and San Jose, the most expensive rental markets today are concentrated in the Bay Area’s wealthiest suburbs. Although parts of the Bay Area remain among the most expensive rental markets in the country, more affordable options still exist in the East Bay and North Bay.
In 2024, cities like Los Altos ($7,024) and Saratoga ($4,972) had the region’s highest typical monthly asking rents. This reflects the increasing demand for high-end housing in suburban communities, motivated by Silicon Valley's high-income workforce and limited housing supply. In 2024, cities like Vallejo ($2,173), San Pablo ($2,222) and Pittsburg ($2,398) had some of the lowest typical monthly asking rents in the region, making them attractive alternatives for renters priced out of traditional job centers.
In 2024 Los Altos had the highest typical asking rent by far of all the Bay Area cities, at $7,024 per month
Between 2015 to 2024, Pittsburg had the highest increase in typical monthly asking rents (increase of $527, from $1,871 in 2015 to $2,398 in 2024)
Asking Rents by Year for Cities
Click on a city on the map for more information.
Sources & Methodology
Asking rents differ from rent payments – the contract rent paid by the cross-section of current renters – which are usually lower in high inflation housing markets. The Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) tracks changes in asking rents over time while controlling for variations in rental property quality. It uses a repeat-rent approach that compares prices for the same rental units over time, attempting to mitigate potential biases from changes in the available housing stock.
The ZORI is not inflation-adjusted; it reflects nominal asking rents rather than real (inflation-adjusted) values, meaning it shows actual market rates at the time of measurement without accounting for changes in the purchasing power of money. To illustrate how rents have grown relative to overall price increases, Vital Signs adjusts the data for inflation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI); that said, the use of the CPI does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a significant portion of the consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.
Regional (Bay Area) values are calculated as a weighted average of county-level typical asking rents, with weights based on the total number of housing units in each county as reported by the California Department of Finance (E-5 and E-8 datasets). This housing unit-weighted methodology ensures the regional average accurately represents the entire Bay Area rental market by giving appropriate influence to each county, based on its share of the region's housing stock. Local data primarily reflect larger rental properties, though efforts are made to weight the index to better represent the full rental market, including smaller apartment complexes and single-family rentals where data is available.
For Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)-level data, the five Bay Area MSAs are defined as follows:
- San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont:
- Alameda
- Contra Costa
- Marin
- San Francisco
- San Mateo
- San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara:
- San Benito (outside the nine-county Bay Area)
- Santa Clara
- Vallejo: Solano
- Napa: Napa
- Santa Rosa–Petaluma: Sonoma
Additionally, ZORI source data provides additional granularity for asking rents data at the MSA level:
- metro_sf_mf: Aggregation of single-family and multi-family rental units
- metro_sf: Single-family rental units only
- metro_mf: Multi-family rental units only
Zillow: Observed Rent Index (ZORI)
2015-2024
California Department of Finance
E-8 Historical Population and Housing Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State
2015-2020
California Department of Finance
E-5 Population and Housing Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State
2020-2024
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index
2015-2024