US renters paid around $4.5 trillion in rent over the past decade, study shows - and New York City renters have been leading the list for 15 years in a row
- According to a study by real-estate listing platform Zillow, US renters paid around $4.5 trillion in rent in the 2010s.
- In 2019 alone, US renters paid $512 billion in rent.
- The study also includes an interactive graph that ranks the nation's 35 largest metro areas by population in order from the most to least rent paid by renters every year from 2005 to 2019.
- According to the graph, out of the country's 35 largest markets, New York renters paid the most in rent every year since 2005.
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US renters have paid approximately $4.5 trillion in rent over the past decade, according to a study by real-estate listing platform Zillow.
To put that into context, that number is nearly three times as big as the nation's current student loan debt, which stands at about $1.6 trillion.
Zillow also found that US renters paid $512 billion in rent in 2019 alone. That's higher than the GDP (gross domestic product) of Thailand which, according to Zillow, was $505 billion in 2018.
Renters in the New York metro area have paid more than renters in any other major metro every year since 2005
In the study, an interactive graph ranks the nation's 35 largest metro areas by population in order from most to least rent paid by renters every year from 2005 to 2019.
Considering it's the largest and one of the most expensive markets in the world, it's no surprise that out of the country's 35 largest markets, New York renters paid the most in rent every year since 2005 (the year the graph starts with). New York is, after all, the third-most expensive city in the world.
In fact, according to the study, renters in the New York metro area paid over $50 billion in rent in 2019 - around $13.5 billion more than they did in 2010.
To put that price growth into perspective, renters in the Tampa metro area paid roughly $5.3 billion in rent in 2019. That's around just $2 billion more than they paid out in 2010.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city is $3,390. That's over two times the national median of $1,460.
San Francisco renters paid over $100 billion in rent over the past decade
While New York City has held steady at the top of the list for 15 years, San Francisco's housing market tells a different - though also expensive - tale for renters.
According to the study, San Francisco is the 11th-most populous market in the US. Despite not ranking in the top 10 by size, in 2014, the San Francisco metro area shot up to No. 3 on Zillow's ranking of the largest US metro areas where residents spend the most on rent. It has maintained its No. 3 ranking for the past six years.
The area's rising popularity and influx of tech jobs have caused real estate prices to skyrocket. In November 2019, Business Insider's Aria Bendix reported that over the past decade, the tech industry in San Francisco grew by 57%. From 2007 to 2017, San Francisco's average rent increased by 25%.
Today, the median home value in San Francisco is over $1.3 million. That's almost six times more than the national median home value of $244,054. In fact, one of the cheapest homes in San Francisco is a 480-square-foot "fixer" that sold last December - for a whopping $600,000.
- Read more about the country's most expensive housing markets:
- San Francisco's housing crisis is so dire that one of the cheapest homes in the city is a 'fixer' that sold for $600,000. Take a look inside.
- An 'uninhabitable' shack that's missing a wall is on the market for nearly $2 million in San Francisco, and it showcases the real value of land in the Bay Area
- How San Francisco has transformed in the last decade, from rising rents to filthy streets
- 13 mind-blowing facts that show just how expensive New York City really is