Miami is the 10th-best city in the United States for renters in 2024, an impressive ranking given its 25th place finish in last year’s annual survey from RentCafe. Charleston, South Carolina, once again took the top spot. 

The survey compared 149 cities based on 20 metrics that affect renters, including cost of living, average apartment size, share of new apartments, unemployment rate, commute time and air quality, which in turn were grouped into three primary categories: cost of living and housing, which were given a 50% weight, local economy, weighted 30%, and quality of life, weighted 20%.  

Miami took first place for local economy, with the highest number of new business applications over the last year (476) and the third-highest income growth for renters, at 58.3%.  

The city also scored relatively high in quality of life, at 51, and housing and cost of living, at 47. Miami renters are squeezed, however, due to the city’s blazing-hot rental market, which ranked as the most competitive in the entire U.S. 

After Charleston, the top cities for renters were Atlanta; Sarasota, Florida; McKinney, Texas; and Scottsdale, Arizona, while Newark, New Jersey; Detroit; Sunnyvale, California; Manhattan; and Anaheim, California, ranked last.