Mobile rents are more affordable, but rising quickly

Mobile offers the most bang for your buck for renters out of all of the major cities in Alabama, according to a new study from RentCafe, an apartment rental site.

But while Mobile may be more affordable, rents in the area are rising more quickly, according to data from apartment rental site Zillow and analyzed by scholars from the University of Alabama, Florida Atlantic University and Florida Gulf Coast University.

The RentCafe study—which used data from its sister company, Yardi Matrix—looked at how much space a renter in a given city could get with a budget of $1,500 per month. Out of 100 small cities in the U.S., Mobile ranked number ten, where on average, renters can get a 1,298 square foot apartment for $1,500.

The average rental unit size in Mobile is 933 square feet and average monthly rent is $1,078, according to the RentCafe study. According to the Zillow data, Mobile had an average rent of $1,200 a month in April 2023, a 12.6% increase from April 2022.

Mobile rent is, on average, lower than Birmingham and Huntsville—which are at $1,414 monthly rent and $1,498 monthly rent, respectively, according to the Zillow study. According to the RentCafe study, in Huntsville, on average, renters get 1,207 square feet for $1,500 a month. In Birmingham, renters can get 1,149 square feet for $1,500, on average.