The website apartmentlist.com has taken a survey of 12 major cities in the U.S. checking out how much bang you can get for your rental buck if the lease is $1,500 a month. Houston looks pretty good with a luxe 839-square-foot one-bedroom apartment, tipping the scales at $1,499, in the spanking new Viridian Design District on Old Katy Road.
As the website notes, "We all know from hard life experience that paying rent is one of the most soul-crushing things about being an adult."
The analysis includes photos and ratings based on scores for proximity to city attractions and conveniences.
The comparison reveals that that $1,500 doesn't go so far in D.C. where a 456-square-foot studio apartment in the Dupont Circle area goes for $1,505. That figure travels even less in San Francisco, where researchers had to bump up the rent to $1,795 to qualify for a teensy studio in the Nob Hill area.
The best deal in the Apartment List study was found in Dallas where, at the Marquis on Gaston, a two-bedroom with 1,139 spacious square feet rents for $1,464 a month.
The Apartment List blog looks at New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Seattle, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Denver.