Affordability Elusive as Rents Continue Their Upward March (2024)

Jersey City appears to be losing its battle to become more affordable.

According to a new study, Jersey City rents went up 1.6 percent in the past month, compared to the national rate of 0.5 percent. It was the seventh fastest rate of the nation’s 100 largest cities. The median rent is now 9.1 percent higher than last year and stands at at $2,310.

The study was produced by Apartment List, a San Francisco-basedonline marketplaceforapartmentlistings.

The 9.1 percent rent increase is higher that the 6 percent inflation rate for the last twelve months and the 7.9 percent growth in wages between January of 2022 and 2023.

Jersey City’s rent growth over the past year has has outpaced both state (5.2 percent) and national (2.6 percent) averages.

Citywide, the median rent currently stands at $2,150 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $2,314 for a 2-bedroom. Across all bedroom sizes (ie, the entire rental market), the median rent is $2,310.

Data provided by Apartment List also reveals the disparity in rents between the two Downtown zip codes — 07302 and 07310 – and the rest of Jersey City.

The median rent across the nation as a whole is $1,158 for a 1-bedroom, $1,327 for a 2-bedroom, and $1,350 overall. The median rent in Jersey City is 71.1% higher than the national average median rent.

At $2,310, Jersey City’s median rent is 14.7% greater than the price across the metropolitan region as a whole.

Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano isn’t happy about the rent increases. “We’re chasing people out of the city who’ve been here for years and years. It’s a shame because they are Jersey City. We’re working on a plan right now to do something about affordable housing.”

Apartment List claims that its methodology avoids the problem of “luxury bias” in which higher priced neighborhoods are over-represented in the data. They achieve this by incorporating census data that encompasses all types of rental housing, from high-end luxury units to single-family rentals to public housing.