Rent in Idaho is Lower Than Most of the US

Could you imagine spending $3,500 each month on rent?  That's the average in one U.S. city, and thankfully it's not in Idaho.  We're getting off cheap here in comparison.

San Francisco has the highest rent in the country, averaging $3,500 per month. This is according to a new study from Walletwyse who used data that tracks the cost of living around the country.  The study said Hamilton, Bermuda ranked #2 with average rent at $3,400 and Manhattan was third at $3,050.

If you're taking home $3,800 per month, that's probably not gonna fly.  Monthly incomes in the high-rent cities might be $10,000 to $20,000, so maybe it's all relative. But maybe not.  There are always folks who are stretched thin, and we'd imagine not everyone in San Francisco is rolling in tech and wine money.

The cheapest U.S. city is Springfield, Missouri, where rent is $550, according to Walletwyse.

Idaho is in the middle of the pack. Rentcafe.com says renters In Idaho are paying on average, between $700 and $1,100, depending on the size of the place. The average rent for an apartment in Boise is $1,035.  Studio apartments go for about $770 a month, and 1-bedroom apartments are usually $899 a month.  Two-bedrooms bring in $1,048 on average.

The hard part might be finding a place, right?  With a hot housing market and the sellers winning that battle, some potential buyers may choose to rent instead, and that puts the Boise apartment market near capacity.  It also makes the rent go up, and Rentcafe says average rents in Boise have increased 7% in the past year.

But, we could still rent two or three apartments here for the same amount that someone in San Francisco pays for one.  They do have the view of the Golden Gate bridge, and we hear the seafood is great on the pier.  But they don't have Guru Donuts.

File this away in the "Ok, I'm glad I live in Idaho" file.  The rent bill may not be a fun one to pay when the 1st of the month rolls around, but at least it's more manageable here than it is in California and other places.

And hopefully, a little lower rent bill means you have some leftover fun money for all of our great water parks, lakes, campgrounds, malls, sporting events, and festivals.  And the Boise River.  And some of that good Idaho sturgeon chased with a huckleberry milkshake.  It could be worse.