Tacoma Among ‘Hottest’ Rental Markets In United States

TACOMA, WA — Finding a place to rent in Tacoma can be a challenge, as it is among the “hottest” communities in the country, according to a 2021 report from the apartment search website RentCafé.

Tacoma ranked 11th on the list based on metrics related to rent compiled during the first three months of 2021. It’s ranked just behind Huntsville, Alabama and one spot ahead of Colorado Springs. There is a Washington city higher on the list, but it may surprise you that it isn't Seattle: Spokane had the second-hottest rental market in the country, just after Central Valley, California.

One reason Tacoma ranked so high is low vacancy rates: the average vacancy was just 31 days and 97 percent of apartments are occupied.

The RentCafé study analyzed Yardi Systems apartment market data across 125 rental markets in the United States, and found that, on average nationwide, apartments go vacant for an average of 39 days, with 94 percent of rentals occupied, and an average of 11 renters competing for an apartment.

As mentioned above Central Valley — a region in California that includes Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton and Modesto — scored as the hottest rental market in the country. The central California region was followed by Spokane then Boise, Idaho, Sacramento, California, and the Inland Empire region in Southern California in rounding out the top five.

Midsize towns made up a majority of the top 30 markets on the list. Phoenix, Tampa and Memphis were the biggest cities listed, and none of them made the top 20.

The three midsize California markets that made the top five are, in part, a result of a recent trend of people moving to those areas from Los Angeles and the Bay Area, RentCafé said, citing a 2020 report from Redfin.

College towns also made up a good chunk of the top 30, with Knoxville, Tennessee, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona, also among those listed.