It now costs a median $36,000 per year to rent a two-bedroom apartment across Arlington County.

The median rental price in May stood at $2,488 for one-bedroom units and $3,006 for two bedrooms, according to figures reported by Apartment List .

The overall median rent of $2,642 in the county was up 4% year-over-year, compared to a slight decline nationally.

Arlington’s median rental price for May was highest in the Washington region. Second was Tysons, with median rents of $2,450 for one-bedroom and $2,938 for two-bedroom units, up 3.2% year-over-year.

Across the metro area, the median rental price of $2,208 monthly was up 2.2%.

Among 100 large urban areas tracked by Apartment List, Arlington’s median rental rate was fifth highest and the most expensive area outside California.

Irvine, Calif., was the most expensive area among the 100 for May with a median rental price of $3,018. Toledo, Ohio, had the most affordable median rent at $889.

While Arlington rates are trending higher, the trajectory of growth is easing.

Since the start of 2025, rents in Arlington have risen 3.2%. That’s below the 4.8% increase recorded between January and May 2024.

Higher rental costs were the norm across Northern Virginia in May. In addition to Tysons, the six other corridors of Fairfax County also posted year-over-year increases, ranging from 3.4% in Herndon to 8.8% in Annandale.

Nationally, the median monthly rental price of $1,398 was down 0.5%.

Apartment List analysts said that after a huge increase in national rental costs during the early stages of the pandemic, the national market has corrected — to an extent.

“Since the second half of 2022, rent prices have continued to ebb and flow with the seasons as they typically do, but with the overall trajectory trending modestly downward. Following a period of record-setting rent growth through 2021 and the first half of 2022, the national median rent has now fallen below its August 2022 peak by a total of 3.1 percent, or $44 per month. But despite the cooldown, the typical rent price remains 22 percent higher than its January 2021 level.”

Expanding inventory in some major markets has caused “fairly steep” year-over-year rent declines. Among areas most impacted by the influx of new construction: Austin, with a median rental price down 6.3% year-over-year; Denver, down 4.8%; and Phoenix, off 3.1%.

Other markets, however, present challenges to would-be renters seeking bargains. The Fresno, Calif., metro area had the highest year-over-year increase (up 5.9%), followed by San Francisco (4.4%) and Chicago (4.3%).

On the supply side of the rental market, Apartment List’s national vacancy index currently sits at 7%, a new high in the history of a monthly data series that goes back to the start of 2017.

“After a historic tightening in 2021, multi-family occupancy has been slowly but consistently easing for over three years amid an influx of new inventory,” analysts said. “2024 saw the most new apartment completions since the mid-1980s, and although we’re past the peak of new multi-family construction, this year is still bringing a robust level of new supply.”