Tuscaloosa and Montgomery rank among 25 cheapest cities in nation for apartment rent

You'll pay less for apartments in Tuscaloosa or Montgomery than almost any other mid or large-sized city in the nation, according to a new study.

Apartment rental site Rent.com ranked the median price for one- and two-bedroom units in June for each U.S. city with more than 50,000 people. Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, landed at No. 12 on the list with a median price of $872. The state's capital city of Montgomery ranked No. 21 with a median price of $999.

The site did not factor the cost of living into the rankings, which were dominated by cities across the South and Midwest. Four other Alabama cities ranked among the 100 cheapest, including No. 26 Mobile ($1,059), No. 35 Birmingham ($1,126), No. 45 Huntsville ($1,200), and No. 82 Madison ($1,472).

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But apartment rental prices were going up across much of Alabama. The site found that over the past year prices rose in five of those six ranked Alabama cities. Montgomery led the way, with an increase of 32.9% since 2021, followed by Huntsville at 23.4%. Among the cities in the rankings, only Birmingham saw median prices drop over the past year.

In all, the site found that 58 of the 100 cheapest cities were in the South. Texas alone had 21 of those cities, including seven of the 20 cheapest overall.

Wichita, Kansas, a city of 400,000 people, had a median rent of $598. That made it the cheapest city in the nation for apartment renters, according to the study. No other city was under $700.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Tuscaloosa, Montgomery among 25 cheapest cities in nation for rent