Methodology
How we collect and validate rent data.
Data sources
RentSpy combines data from three sources, ranked by trust level:
- Building websites — rent prices sourced directly from apartment building websites. Most accurate for current asking rents.
- Tenant submissions — actual lease data shared by renters through our chat. Unique because it captures what people really pay, including concessions, fees, and renewal terms. Every submission is reviewed before publication.
- Public records — Census Bureau data (American Community Survey) for rent distributions by ZIP code, and public property records for building metadata like unit counts and year built.
City status levels
Every city on RentSpy has a status that reflects our data confidence:
Good coverage across buildings and bedroom types. Enough data to produce reliable rent estimates and meaningful comparisons. Reports for active cities reflect the real market.
We have some data — tracked buildings, scraped listings, or early tenant submissions — but not enough to produce high-confidence reports across the city. Estimates may be based on limited data points. Preview cities are actively being built out.
We intend to cover this city but haven't started data collection yet. You can still submit your rent to help us launch — early submissions help us prioritize which cities to build out next.
Rent estimates
When we show an estimated rent for a building or floor plan, it's a time-weighted median of approved listings. More recent data points carry more weight than older ones, so the estimate tracks the current market rather than averaging in stale prices.
Privacy
Individual submissions are never displayed in a way that identifies the tenant. Buildings with fewer than 10 units are excluded from browse, search, and sitemap to protect tenant privacy. For more details, see our privacy policy.
Help improve the data
The accuracy of RentSpy depends on tenants sharing what they pay. More submissions mean better estimates, better comparisons, and a more transparent market. If you see data that looks wrong, reach out on X.