Manhattan Least Renter Friendly, Home to 15 of the Priciest ZIP Codes in the U.S.

Despite recent rumors that the NYC luxury home market has been sluggish in the past year, on the residential front, renters are unwillingly competing with home buyers to see ‘who has it tougher’, with both parties claiming one victory upon another.

With monthly rankings of priciest NYC condos sold now regularly featuring $19 million properties, and with neighborhoods where the median home prices jumped over the $3 million mark, it’s hard not to sympathize with New York home buyers.

But most recently, our colleagues over at RENTCafé have added a new (albeit unwanted) win for ‘the rent is too damn expensive’ side: after taking a close look at rent data throughout the U.S., the apartment search portal has found that 15 of the 20 most expensive zip codes in the country are located in Manhattan.

And while you can probably guess what the zip codes are without even us mentioning them, what might surprise you is the median rent associated with each of them:

Most Expensive NYC Zip Codes for Renters

With ZIP codes that include notoriously expensive Manhattan neighborhoods — like Hell’s Kitchen, Times Square, and the Theater District — leading the list, followed closely by equally (or even more) posh areas like the West Village, Tribeca, Gramercy and Flatiron, as well as Lenox Hill, it is worth noting that all the ZIP codes that made their way to the Top 10 have striking median rents  of over $4,000.

So if you’re looking to rent an apartment in NYC and don’t have a fortune to spare, here are the ZIP codes that might not fit your budget:

Most Expensive Zip Codes for Renters – Outside of NYC

The West Coast tries to balance out the list, with a total of 5 ZIP codes making their way to the list of ‘most expensive ZIP codes for renters’, but with only one entry in the Top 10: 94920 (Belvedere Tiburon, CA), region where renters have paid a median rent of $4,195 in 2015.

And while NYC may dominate our ranking, don’t let that fool you: San Francisco apartments have equally outrageous median rents, with apartments in Mission Bay (ZIP 94158) asking $3,931/month, Yerba Buena (ZIP 94105) apartments asking $3,911/month, and Potrero Hill and Dogpatch (ZIP 94107) rentals asking $3,851/month.

The last ZIP code to make it to the Top 20 is Santa Monica‘s 90405, home to the prestigious Ocean Park and Sunset Park neighborhoods. The two neighborhoods, comprising what is known as one of L.A.’s sunniest coastal communities, had a median monthly rent of $3,832.

Methodology: The research was compiled by RENTCafé, based on data provided by Yardi Matrix — a leading apartment intelligence service and part of the Yardi family of companies, along with RENTCafé and PropertyShark. To rank the most expensive ZIP codes in the U.S., RENTCafé looked at the actual rent charged last year (2015) in apartment buildings with 50 or more rentals. Only ZIP codes containing data for 200 or more rental units have been considered as a valid selection. 90210 (in Beverly Hills, CA) and 10007 (in NYC) have therefore been excluded due to low sample size.