Cost of living & value
US cities with the lowest rent
Where a two-bedroom costs the least, among cities over 100k.
Rent is the single biggest line in most budgets. These cities over 100k residents have the lowest typical two-bedroom rent we track.
Published by WhereToHQ research. Calculated from committed source data with no generated editorial text.
What the ranking shows
- Brownsville, TX leads this list at $908/mo for 2-bedroom rent.
- Across the 15 published entries, 2-bedroom rent ranges from $908/mo to $1,010/mo. The other columns show tradeoffs that the headline order cannot capture.
| # | City | 2-bedroom rent | 1-bedroom rent | Cost of living index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsville, TX189k | $908/mo | $751/mo | 78 |
| 2 | Dayton, OH137k | $929/mo | $708/mo | 73 |
| 3 | Toledo, OH267k | $930/mo | $669/mo | 74 |
| 4 | Las Cruces, NM114k | $964/mo | $791/mo | 82 |
| 5 | Akron, OH189k | $966/mo | $706/mo | 75 |
| 6 | Springfield, MO170k | $972/mo | $807/mo | 78 |
| 7 | Fargo, ND132k | $972/mo | $842/mo | 85 |
| 8 | Shreveport, LA181k | $985/mo | $840/mo | 79 |
| 9 | Wichita, KS398k | $996/mo | $802/mo | 78 |
| 10 | Springfield, IL113k | $997/mo | $765/mo | 82 |
| 11 | Wichita Falls, TX103k | $1,000/mo | $837/mo | 80 |
| 12 | Rockford, IL148k | $1,004/mo | $725/mo | 80 |
| 13 | Edinburg, TX105k | $1,004/mo | $827/mo | 82 |
| 14 | Davenport, IA101k | $1,009/mo | $823/mo | 77 |
| 15 | Laredo, TX258k | $1,010/mo | $790/mo | 82 |
Ranked from public data we track (US Census/ACS, BLS, EIA, FEMA, NOAA, Tax Foundation) and recomputed on every data refresh. Figures are estimates for comparison, not advice; open any city to see all facets.
Candidate rules: 100,000 or more residents. Ranking rule: 2-bedroom rent, lowest first.
WhereToHQ loads at most the 500 largest eligible national candidates, or 300 candidates for a state list, before applying the published rules. Missing values are excluded from a direct sort or hard filter. In a weighted score, an unknown value is neutral rather than favorable.