How Much Has Rent Increased Since 1980?

If you feel like rent takes a bigger bite out of your paycheck than it did for your parents, the data backs you up completely.

In 1980, the median gross rent in the United States was about $243 per month. Adjusted for inflation, that is roughly $920 in today's dollars. The actual median rent in 2024? Around $1,400 nationally — and well over $2,000 in most major coastal cities. That gap between "what inflation would predict" and "what landlords actually charge" is the story of the modern housing crisis in one number.

The root causes are not mysterious, even if the politics around them are. Housing construction in the United States has not kept up with population growth since the 1980s. Zoning restrictions, NIMBY opposition, and rising construction costs have all combined to create a structural shortage of homes, especially in the metros where job growth has been strongest.

Between 1980 and 2000, rent increases roughly tracked general inflation. The divergence started in the early 2000s and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis. The foreclosure wave pushed millions of former homeowners into the rental market right as construction was at its lowest point in decades. More demand plus less supply equals higher rents — it is that straightforward.

The pandemic era made things worse. Remote work triggered a migration from expensive cities to mid-size metros, pushing rents up in places like Boise, Austin, and Phoenix that had previously been affordable. Meanwhile, institutional investors poured billions into single-family rental properties, further reducing supply for would-be buyers.

Who got hit hardest? Low-income renters. In 1980, a household earning the median income spent about 25% of their pay on rent. Today, the median renter spends closer to 30%, and nearly half of all renters are considered "cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of income on housing. For minimum-wage workers, the math is brutal: there is no state in the country where a full-time minimum-wage job covers the average two-bedroom apartment.

The broader economic implications are significant. When housing eats a larger share of household budgets, there is less money left for savings, healthcare, education, and consumer spending — all of which feed economic growth. The rent problem is not just a housing problem; it is an everything problem.

What would it take to fix this? Most economists agree: build more housing. A lot more. Some estimates suggest the U.S. is short 3 to 5 million homes. Until supply catches up with demand, rent is unlikely to become more affordable in real terms — no matter what happens with interest rates or inflation overall.