The worst places to rent in America; is it time to buy a home?

Why rent anymore?

If you need a bigger reason not to continue renting, new data from RENTCafe and Yardi Matrix just provided it. Not only are rents 2.8 percent higher than one year ago, but nearly 90 percent of America’s biggest cities have seen rent prices jump in the last month. A mere 2 percent experienced rent drops.

Rent prices up in 90 percent of U.S. cities

A whopping 89 percent of the nation’s 250 largest cities saw rents increase in January, with the national average rent clocking in at $1,361 for the month. Two-bedroom units have seen particular growth with rents jumping 3.5 percent in the last year.

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The worst cities for rent growth were Odessa and Midland, Texas, coming in with year-over-year increases of 35 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively.

Buffalo, New York, saw the third biggest jump over the last year, while Lancaster, California, and Reno, Nevada, rounded out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 was dominated by cities in the West and South: St. Petersburg, Florida; Gilbert, Arizona; Roseville, California; Sacramento; and Fort Collins, Colorado.

The nation’s most expensive places to rent

Manhattan comes in as the country’s single-most expensive rental market, with average prices of $4,079 per month. San Francisco and Boston took spots two and three, with rents of $3,448 and $3,243, while San Mateo, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, claimed No. 4 and 5.

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Though some cities still have rents in the affordable range, you’ll likely need to go off the beaten path to find them. Wichita, Kansas, has the nation’s lowest rent at $632, while smaller towns in Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas also offer rents in the $600-range.

Get today’s mortgage rates

Are you ready to get out of the rent race and stop paying more and more every year? You might want to take advantage of today’s historically low mortgage rates. Shop around and see what rates you qualify for today.