Asking rents in San Francisco surge 22% in June, worsening one‑bedroom shortage

San Francisco asking rents for one-bedroom apartments rose about 22% from a year earlier in June, according to Zumper’s national rent report published June 29. The rental platform said the city’s median one-bedroom asking rent reached a record $4,060, while median two-bedroom asking rent rose to $5,700. The increase left San Francisco second only to New York City among major U.S. rental markets in Zumper’s ranking. The June data also stood out because national one-bedroom rents rose just 0.4% from a year earlier, to $1,526. ### How high did San Francisco rents get in June? Zumper said June one-bedroom asking rents in San Francisco hit $4,060, a fresh high for the city. The same report put San Francisco’s median two-bedroom rent at $5,700, also a record. New York City held the top spot at $4,660 for a one-bedroom, Zumper said, with San Francisco just behind it. The report said San Francisco continued to lead the nation in annual rent growth at around 22% for both one- and two-bedroom units. (zumper.com) ### What does the national rent data show outside San Francisco? June 2026 marked the first positive annual reading for national one-bedroom rents since May 2025, according to Zumper. (zumper.com) The company said the median U.S. one-bedroom rent rose 0.5% from May to $1,526 and was up 0.4% from a year earlier, while the median two-bedroom rent increased 0.1% month over month to $1,905 and was down 0.3% year over year. Shawn Mullahy, Zumper’s chief executive, said supply remained the main dividing line across markets. “Where supply is constrained, rents are rising,” Mullahy said in the report, while markets with more inventory were still seeing softer rents. ### What are other housing trackers saying about the Bay Area? Apartments.com said in a June 2026 report published July 6 that rents in the San Francisco metro area were 11.2% higher than a year earlier. (zumper.com) The company said the national average rent was $1,645 for a one-bedroom and $1,909 for a two-bedroom in June, and that the national vacancy rate was 8.3%. Apartments.com said San Francisco was seeing rising rents, tightening vacancies and renewed renter demand. The report said the city’s average one-bedroom rent had increased more than 17% since November 2022. ### Who is being cited as a driver of demand? Apartments.com said the growth of artificial-intelligence companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Databricks was bringing higher-income workers back into San Francisco. (apartments.com) The report said some of those companies were expanding office footprints in SoMa and the Financial District, increasing demand for nearby housing. Zumper did not tie San Francisco’s increase to a single employer in the lines reviewed, but it said the Bay Area boom was spreading to nearby cities. Oakland one-bedroom rents were up 6.2% from a year earlier and San Jose one-bedroom rents were up 2.6%, according to the June 29 report. ### Where can renters watch for the next data point? Zumper publishes its national rent report monthly, and the June edition was dated June 29. (apartments.com) Apartments.com published its June 2026 rent report on July 6, giving renters another benchmark for Bay Area pricing and vacancy trends. (zumper.com)