Philadelphia is one of the most popular destinations for apartment hunters so far this year

Philadelphia is one of the most popular major cities among renters searching for apartments ahead of this year’s peak rental season.

The city ranks in the top 10 most popular out of the 150 largest U.S. cities, according to an analysis of millions of apartment searches by the nationwide apartment search platform RentCafe.

To rank cities at the start of the year, the platform measured page views for apartment listings, saved searches, listings that were marked as favorites, and the availability of units.

Rental activity is typically more dormant in the winter months before it heats up with the weather and peaks in the summer. “Looking out your window today, you can see a major reason why,” said Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, a sister division of RentCafe.

» READ MORE: More New Yorkers want apartments in the Philly area

Philadelphia came in at No. 8 in RentCafe’s ranking of in-demand rental markets in early 2026. The city often ranks high for popularity among renters because of its size, access to job hubs, and affordability compared to New York and other major East Coast cities.

RentCafe found that a majority of the interest in Philadelphia apartments comes from people already living in the city.

But out-of-town renters also want to move here. The majority of these apartment hunters searched from New York, followed by Boston and Washington. Renters in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Houston also were interested in Philadelphia rentals.

Philadelphia fell three spots from last year in RentCafe’s ranking, because the number of saved apartment searches dropped, Ressler said. That’s partly because an apartment construction boom in the city has created many available units. So apartment hunters can more easily find homes and don’t need to save as many searches.

Midwestern and Southern cities dominated RentCafe’s rankings, with 11 of the 30 most in-demand cities located in the Midwest. Cincinnati took the No. 1 spot, followed by Atlanta and Minneapolis.

Washington and Baltimore rounded out the top-five list.

In top-ranked Cincinnati, RentCafe said renter interest was driven by people wanting to move from expensive areas along the coast to a midsized city that still offers a strong job market and positions in healthcare, manufacturing, and finance. Cincinnati also has become more appealing because of recent revitalization of downtown neighborhoods and the riverfront along the Ohio River.

Renter interest in El Paso, Texas, has grown the most out of the 150 large cities that RentCafe analyzed. The city climbed 115 spots to rank No. 28 this year.