A new report by Forbes Advisor evaluated 96 of the most populated cities in the country to find which are the most renter-friendly considering 23 metrics. In Texas, only two cities made it to the top 10 list: Austin, landing number 5 in the ranking, preceded by Plano at number 4.
Forbes Advisor’s report comes after Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of the risk assessment and financial industry firm Moody’s, released a report on rent housing affordability in May 2023. The report found that the effect of rising mortgage rates pricing out buyers provoked a surge in rental demand that strained the rent-to-income (RTI) ratio for many Americans living in U.S. metropolitan areas.
The study analyzed the historical evolution of RTI from 1999, when New York was the only US metro area where rent consumed more than 30% of a household’s monthly income, through 2023. According to Moody’s Analytics, in 2022 the share of American households' income needed to rent an average-priced apartment crossed the 30% rent-burdening threshold for the first time in 25 years. Nationwide, the RTI ratio retreated to 29.6% only recently due to a seasonal slowness in the multifamily market, bringing a slight relief to renters.
With these considerations in mind, Forbes Advisor evaluated cities based on the percentage of households spending 30% or more of their income on rent, the year-over-year rent percentage change and average apartment size. The report also included metrics relating to the quality of life such as the percentage of pet-friendly rentals, crime rates and median household income.
Based on these metrics, Plano reached a whopping 93.48/100 score thanks to its low percentage of renters spending over 30% of their income on rent (41.47%), its low crime rates as well as parking availability, percentage of units with gyms and on-site laundry facilities.
This is not the first report that places Plano high up for renters. As previously reported by Local Profile, the rental listing service RentCafe ranked the Collin County boomtown even higher in their “Best Places for Renters to Live in 2023,” granting the city second place in the ranking. The city’s affordability was also one of the reasons Outside Magazine included Plano in its list of the happiest cities in the U.S. No wonder so many people are flocking to Texas in recent years!
