Kent apartment rents have remained flat over the past month, however, they are up slightly by 1.6% compared to October 2019.

Currently, median rents in Kent stand at $1,275 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,631 for a two-bedroom, according to apartmentlist.com. Kent’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average that has declined by 4%, as well as the national average that has dropped 1.4%.

Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Kent, but across the entire Seattle-Tacoma metro area. Of the largest 10 cities that apartmentlist.com have data for in the metro area, six of them have seen prices rise.

Lakewood has the least expensive rents in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, with a two-bedroom median of $1,382; additionally, the city has seen rent growth of 0.4% over the past month, the highest in the metro area.

Over the past year, Seattle proper has seen the biggest rent drop in the area, with a decline of 12.2%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,849, while one-bedrooms go for $1,483.

Redmond has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Seattle area, with a two-bedroom median of $2,131; rents decreased 2.3% over the past month and declined 6.9% over the past year.

As rents have increased slightly in Kent, other large cities nationwide have seen rents grow more quickly. Compared to most large cities across the country, Kent is less affordable for renters.

Washington as a whole has logged a 4% year-over-year decline, while other cities across the state have seen rents significantly on the rise. For example, rents have grown by 4.8% in Spokane and 3.9% in Vancouver.

Kent’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,631 is above the national average of $1,101. Nationwide, rents have fallen by 1.4% over the past year compared to the 1.6% rise in Kent.

Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Kent than most large cities. For example, Spokane has a median two-bedroom rent of $1,051, where Kent is more than one-and-a-half times that price.