The average rent in Washington DC is right around $2,000/month. But there's more to the story.
As with any city, there's a significant range of rent prices between neighborhoods. In DC, the range in average rents goes from around $1,200/month to $2,900/month.
Check out this "10-second snapshot" of rent prices in DC. Before diving into a bunch of background and trends about rent prices in Washington DC, I wanted to give you a good snapshot. The following infographic will give you the broad strokes about average rents in DC in just 10 seconds.
Note: If you read our guide on moving to Washington DC, then you've seen this infographic!
As you might have imagined, prices are highest around the core of the city.
Washington DC is particularly easy to understand from a "rent price dynamics" perspective, because of its unique polygonal layout (i.e. it's basically a rectangle).
Unlike Seattle or Boston, which have varied geographies and boundary lines, Washington DC is box. As you get farther from the center of the box, the more affordable the rent gets — with some slight exceptions. Obviously, access to public transit and safety make a difference in property values and rent prices.
See how DC's geography creates a fairly predictable rent price pattern.
Source: Trulia
What about trends in the DC rental market? Slow, steady and up.
PoPville shows how rents have changed each month over the past year in Washington DC. DC hasn't seen the price volatility of markets like Seattle and Boston, but it's consistently grown and shows no signs of reversing that trend just yet. The upside is that even though rent prices are some of the highest in the nation, you can expect your rent to appreciate only modestly each year.
