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On average, renters across the U.S. ended 2025 paying less for their housing than they did at the start of the year. But that relief was not felt equally across the board, if it was felt at all.
Rental prices are still reeling from the price spikes seen during the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2025, median asking prices have grown nearly 17% nationally, a Realtor.com report found. In Dallas, along with many of the United States’ major metros, low-income renters living in studio to two-bedroom units are paying a proportionally higher rate for housing than middle- and high-income renters.
For luxury renters whose monthly costs fall into the 75th percentile, prices have increased 12.5% in that time. But for renters paying the bottom quarter of prices, rent has increased by 19.9% on average since 2019.
While rent prices are ultimately up, they have fallen for 29 consecutive months, leading to some relief. That price change has been especially prominent for 75th percentile renters, with asking rents falling 3.5% since 2022. Twenty-fifth percentile renters are paying 0.8% less than they were during the pandemic spike.
“National rent declines have been remarkably persistent, but the distribution of that relief matters,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a statement. “Many renters shopping for more affordable homes may not feel much change because lower-priced rents have risen more since 2019, while the biggest markdowns have shown up at the high end.”
In the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, rental listings at the end of 2025 were, on average, 1.5% lower than at the end of 2024, with a median asking price of $1,424. But like the national trend, 25th percentile tenants aren’t seeing the relief painted by the bigger picture. The prices of DFW’s lowest-cost units have slowly crept towards the area’s median price, meaning low-income renters are facing increasing cost pressure.
The Austin-Round Rock area, by comparison, has seen rental prices decline, bringing the median asking price down 5.3% between 2024 and 2025. The median monthly rent cost in Texas’ capital city is $1,390. Prices in the Houston area are similar, averaging $1,348 a month, and fell 2.4% over the last year.
