Atlanta has topped the list of best cities for renters to live in 2024.
According to the “Best Cities for Renters to Live in 2024” list curated by RentCafe.com, the Georgia city came in at No. 2 when compared to 149 other American cities. No. 1 on the round-up was Charleston, South Carolina.
Based on factors like air quality, apartment quality, economic strength, natural amenities, as well as traffic, RentCafe compiled a list of 150 cities, grouping them into the following categories: cost of
living, local economy, and quality of life. Atlanta scored high in the local economy department thanks to statistics that showcase economic growth seen by renters in the city over the past five years.Renters in the city saw a 44.6% increase in income within that period. Atlanta also ranked second in the number of yearly business applications, totaling 472, and had a 1% annual job growth rate.
No stranger to being a city that tops lists, in 2023, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was awarded the Airport Service Quality Award
for Best Airport in North America. Additionally, the city has grown into a hub for companies like Delta Air Lines, UPS, Cox Enterprises, and Home Depot. Previously, Hartsfield-Jackson won Best Airport by Size and Region ASQ Awards consecutively in 2021 and 2022.In January 2024, RentCafe listed Atlanta as the No. 1 city for renters to watch, thanks to a rental activity report pulled by the company, which revealed that Atlanta attracted the highest rental activity on the platform within the last year.
Since the conclusion of World War II, Atlanta has been a manufacturing and technology center. Still, it wasn’t until the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics that it quickly grew into one of the country’s fastest-growing tech hubs
, garnering nicknames for the Georgia city like “Silicon Valley of the South” and “Silicon Peach.”In comparison to Atlanta, Charleston clinched the top spot thanks to its high job growth, low unemployment rates, and nearly one-third of its rentals being qualified as being “newly built.” Coming in after Atlanta in the No. 4 and No. 5 slots are McKinney, Texas, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Overall, cities located in the Southern region of the nation landed in 38 of the top 50 best cities to rent this year.
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