Apartment rents across LA County continued to soften during the second quarter as thousands of newly delivered units and additional housing options increased inventory. While the market has cooled from its 2022 highs, pricing remains relatively resilient in many neighborhoods, particularly within the City of Los Angeles, where rents continue to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
According to second-quarter rental data from Realtor.com, the county’s median asking rent fell to $2,603, representing a 3.4% decline from one year ago. The figure also marks the lowest median asking rent recorded since late 2021. Compared with peak pricing in 2022, renters are paying nearly 10% less, or roughly $276 less per month.
Additional Supply Continues to Shape the Market
The recent decline reflects an expanding inventory of rental housing, driven by continued multifamily development and the growing number of accessory dwelling units entering the market. As more apartments become available, competition among property owners has helped moderate asking rents across several unit types.
Smaller apartments experienced the largest year-over-year declines. Median asking rents for studio through two-bedroom units decreased 3.6% to $2,255 during the second quarter. Larger apartments also saw modest movement, with rents for three-bedroom and larger units falling 3% to a median of $3,441.
Affordability Remains a Challenge for Many Renters
Although rents have eased, affordability continues to be a significant hurdle, particularly for recent college graduates beginning their careers.
Realtor.com estimates that a newly hired computer science graduate earning approximately $94,000 annually in the LA market would spend about 25.7% of their income on a typical studio apartment. Graduates in lower-paying fields face a much heavier burden. Business graduates would devote roughly 30.4% of their income to rent, while social science graduates would spend approximately 31.6% and communications graduates about 32.8%. Those figures exceed the commonly cited guideline of keeping housing costs below 30% of gross income.
City of Los Angeles Holds Up Better Than the County
While countywide rents have moved lower, pricing within the City of Los Angeles has remained comparatively stable.
Median asking rent in the city declined 2% from a year earlier to $2,742. Even with that modest decrease, rents remain 3.8% higher than pre-pandemic levels, highlighting the continued strength of demand in many of the city’s rental submarkets.
Local Demand Continues to Support the Market
Rental activity also remains heavily driven by local residents. More than 58% of online interest in LA County rental listings originated from within the county during the second quarter, while fewer than 20% of prospective renters came from outside California.
For multifamily investors, the latest data suggests the market is transitioning toward a more balanced environment. New supply is easing rent growth, but sustained local demand and resilient urban pricing continue to support long-term fundamentals across much of LA County.
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