Make California Post a Preferred Source San Francisco renters are getting squeezed harder than ever — and the city’s latest apartment prices are starting to look downright outrageous.
The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city hit a record $4,400 a month in September, according to a new report from real estate site Zumper.
That’s a staggering 25.4% jump from a year ago, putting San Francisco just $180 behind New York City, where the median one-bedroom costs $4,580.
But renters don’t have to look far to find listings that make the $4,400 median look almost like a bargain.
Last month, The California Post profiled a San Francisco one-bedroom asking a jaw-dropping $5,495 a month, sparking outrage from renters who questioned how such a tiny apartment could command such a massive price.
And the latest numbers show that listing was hardly an isolated case.
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The median price for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco has now climbed to $6,340 a month — the highest in the country and nearly $900 more than the median two-bedroom in New York.
Two-bedroom rents have jumped 26.8% over the past year, with the median price blowing past $6,000 in July.
The surge is being fueled in part by a booming artificial-intelligence sector, according to Zumper, which said AI hiring is creating a wave of new demand in a city where housing supply remains tight.
The rent spike is also far outpacing much of the rest of the Bay Area.
In San Jose, the median one-bedroom costs $2,890, while Oakland renters pay a median $2,100 for a one-bedroom. Those prices are also up over the past year, but nowhere near San Francisco’s 25.4% increase according to CBS.
Nationally, the median one-bedroom rent rose just 0.1% over the past year to $1,518, while the median two-bedroom increased 0.5% to $1,903.
“There really isn’t one U.S. rental market right now,” Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy said in a statement. “The common denominator is supply: markets still absorbing the building boom are competing aggressively for renters, while markets that avoided it are tightening quickly.”
The housing crunch has become such a problem that San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie declared a “rent emergency” earlier this month, citing soaring rents and evictions that are expected to hit their highest level in a decade.
“For thousands upon thousands of San Franciscans, the most immediate pressure right now is rent,” Lurie said at a Sept. 10 briefing. “And that pressure is rising rapidly.”
Lurie has proposed measures including a 10% cap on rent increases and roughly $55 million for a legal fund to help tenants fight to remain in their homes.
