The cheapest and costliest cities for Bay Area renters

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A "for rent" sign is posted in front of a home on December 12, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

OAKLAND, Calif. - Renters throughout the region are well-aware of the Bay Area's high cost of living, and a new report shows that rents throughout the region have, with a few exceptions, continued to climb.

Rental marketplace platform Zumper last week released its April report for one- and two-bedroom apartments. According to the report, only three cities fall below the median rent for a one-bedroom in California, $2,067:

• Oakland, at $2,000
• San Leandro, at $1,960
• Concord, at $1,940
• Vallejo, at $1,560
• Antioch, at $1,520

Antioch reportedly saw a 14.6% decrease in rent over the last year. The city has in recent years adopted several measures to limit rent increases, which likely contributed. In 2022, the Antioch City Council adopted a Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which capped annual rent increases to a percentage of the consumer price index - if the CPI increases by more than 5%, rent increases are capped at 3%. If CPI growth is less than 5%, rent growth is capped at 60% of that number.

Menlo Park is ranked as the most expensive city in the region, with the median single-bedroom rent at $3,290, beating out both Mountain View and San Francisco, where single-bedroom median rents are $3,230 and $3,200 respectively.

The rent in Menlo Park represents a 31.6% increase over the last 12 months, compared to a 10.3% increase in San Francisco. Mountain View, notably, saw an 11.5% decrease.

The same trend holds true for two-bedroom units as well: the median rent for an Antioch two-bedroom is $2,030, a 6.5% decrease over the last 12 months, whereas the same unit in Menlo Park costs $4,500, which is also a $31.6% increase since 2024.

Nationally, the Bay Area — San Francisco, specifically — has maintained its reputation for a high cost of living. The city's median rent of $3,200 was second to New York's median of $4,470. That number is reportedly the highest rent has been in San Francisco in nearly five years. San Jose was ranked fifth, with a median rent of $2,760.

Both cities saw the largest annual rent price growth rates, Zumper reported.