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Even in the midst of an affordable housing crisis in Big D, the city experienced a substantial increase in renter interest in the third quarter of 2025, enough to land Dallas in the No. 22 spot of the most sought-after rental cities in the U.S.
The rankings, released by online apartment locator RentCafe, noted in a recent report that between July and September, which the site says are the busiest apartment-hunting months of the year, interest in Dallas skyrocketed, helping make it one of only eight newcomers to enter the top 30. That means Dallas leaped a whopping 25 spots from the previous quarter.
RentCafe got its numbers from compiling the number of page views, saved searches and favorited listings a city had on its own site. Fueling its rise on this year’s list, Dallas saw an increase in each of those categories. Page views for Dallas on RentCafe.com increased by 5%, for example, while favorited listings in Dallas rose by 15% and saved searches for Big D jumped by 25%, year-over-year.
July, August and September are prime apartment hunting months thanks to the beginning of a new school year, a higher amount of leases ending and in many parts of the country, weather that starts to cool down, unlike Texas, where we only know what that feels like much closer to Thanksgiving.
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The report notes that for Dallas, “strong double-digit growth in both favorites and saved searches shows that renters are targeting modern, amenity-rich apartments in one of the nation’s fastest-growing metros.”
A representative from RentCafe says that renters from nearby areas, such as Houston and Plano, have been showing interest in Dallas, which is to be expected. However, “a steady stream of apartment hunters from New York City” have also been using their site to search for Dallas rentals in 2025.
The RentCafe report surveyed only the top 150 cities by population. That’s why some prominent North Texas suburbs likely didn’t make the list, although a July RentCafe report named McKinney as the best city in America for renters, not just the most sought-after. That report loosened the population requirement and tracked 20 different metrics, including crime rates, employment figures, and others, to arrive at its findings.
Cincinnati was the most sought-after city for apartment hunters in the third quarter. When broken down by region, Dallas has an even loftier spot, coming in at No. 5 for the South region, just behind Louisville, Kentucky. Dallas was the most sought-after city for rentals in Texas by a long shot, with Houston ranked at No. 34, 12 spots behind Dallas and Amarillo coming in at No. 42 and El Paso at No. 61.
