Not every rental market is the same, and new data shows renters are voting with their feet. According to the Realtor.com^® May Rental Report, while the national median asking rent fell to $1,686, down 1.5% year-over-year and marking the 34th consecutive month of declines, Realtor.com^® 2026 Q1 Rental Cross-Market Demand data reveals a sharper story: some cities are holding onto their renters, and others are being defined by the people moving in from somewhere else.

"Local loyalty in markets like Las Vegas reflects renters finding real value close to home as rents soften. In markets like Raleigh, strong job opportunities and relative affordability are pulling in renters from across the country," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com^®. "Renters and landlords alike can use this cross-market demand data to see which markets are magnets and which are anchors. Combined with pricing trends, these data not only signal how competitive a rental market is, they show whether that rental demand is homegrown or coming from outside of the market."

Where Renters Are Staying
Las Vegas leads the nation in local renter loyalty. In 2026 Q1, 70% of online rental searches by Las Vegas residents stayed within the metro, the highest rate among the 50 largest markets. Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and San Diego round out the top five. These five markets stand out as renter-friendly destinations where softening rents, higher vacancy rates, strong job markets, and warm weather combine to give residents little reason to look elsewhere.

Local loyalty has also grown significantly in several markets since 2020. Houston's retention rate rose 11 percentage points over six years, from 53.3% to 64.6%. Kansas City, Baltimore, and Cincinnati show the same trajectory.

Rental Markets Loved by Locals

Where Non-Local Demand Dominates
Raleigh attracted the highest share of out-of-market rental demand in 2026 Q1, with 69.1% of rental views coming from outside the metro. Richmond, Hartford, Providence, and Baltimore draw heavily from renters leaving New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C., attracted by more affordable rents and strong job markets in healthcare, financial services, and tech.

Detroit saw the most dramatic shift over time, with out-of-market rental demand nearly doubling between 2020 Q1 and 2026 Q1, rising from 28.1% to 51.8%.

Rental Markets Dominated Most by Outsiders

Why San Francisco Is Different
San Francisco defies both patterns. Rents there rose 1.2% year-over-year in May, the opposite of the national trend. Local loyalty rose from 44.0% in 2020 Q1 to 55.0% in 2026 Q1, while out-of-market demand to San Francisco climbed from 43.1% to 64.1% over the same period.

Meanwhile, data shows fewer San Francisco residents are shopping for rentals overall. The explanation may lie outside the rental market entirely. San Francisco's homeownership rate climbed from 49% to 51.7% in a single year, according to the most recent Housing Vacancies and Homeownership data. The AI and tech hiring boom appears to be converting renters into owners, shrinking the pool of people shopping for rentals.

"Two things appear to be happening in San Francisco's rental market," said Jiayi Xu, economist at Realtor.com^®. "First, rising wealth tied to the AI boom may be enabling more renters to transition into homeownership, pulling them out of the rental search pool altogether. Second, the renters who remain are showing more settled behavior — less likely to be browsing other markets, and more focused on staying put. The post-pandemic reshuffling, it seems, has run its course."