Houston Rated Among The Top Cities For Renters

HOUSTON, TX -- Looking for a place to live, but not ready to buy a home? Houston is among the top cities for renters, according to Forbes.

San Antonio took the top spot for Texas cities, coming in at No. 4, followed by Houston at No. 6, and Austin at No. 15.

According to Forbes, the U.S. has in recent years become a nation of renter, much of which was brought on by the 2009 recession, and there's clear evidence of that in Houston.

Apartment construction increased between 2010, and 2016, with nine complexes near downtown under construction last year alone.

Some of that was related to the relocation of the ExxonMobil headquarters, from Fairfax, Virginia to Houston in 2015.

Another driver is Houston's Downtown Living initiative, unveiled in 2015 to help promote growth and stimulate economic activity.

Forbes used four key qualifiers compiled by Marcus & Millichap, to rank each of the metro areas, based on those metrics to arrive at this composite ranking.

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The four metrics are:

• Average monthly apartment rent in Q4 2016, net any concessions

• Change in apartment rent from Q4 2015 to Q4 2016
• Average apartment vacancy rate
• Apartment rent as share of average household income

Affordability and apartment rent as a share of household income made up 40 percent of each area's score, while the other three metrics made up 60 percent of the score.
According to Forbes, the 15 best cities for renters are:

1. Indianapolis, Indiana
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Kansas City, Missouri
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Columbus, Ohio
6. Houston, Texas
7. Jacksonville, Florida
8. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
9. Louisville, Kentucky
10. Cleveland, Ohio
11. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
12. Cincinnati, Ohio
13. Baltimore, Maryland
14. Phoenix, Arizona
15. Austin, Texas

The 15 worst cities for renters are:

1. Miami, Florida
2. San Diego, California
3. Manhattan, New York
4. Los Angeles, California
5. Orange County, California
6. Boston, Massachusetts
7. Riverside-San Bernardino, California
8. Oakland, California
9. Sacramento, California
10. Seattle, Washington
11. San Francisco, California
12. Northern New Jersey
13. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
14. Portland, Oregon
15. Orlando, Florida

See more insight on the best and worst places to rent from Forbes.

Image: Katie Haugland Bowen via Flickr.

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Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff, contributed to this story

See Also: These Are The Best (And Worst) Cities For Renters