With moving season in full swing, a new report ranks metro Milwaukee's apartment rental market as the 15th most competitive in the country—down several positions from the end of 2024 and 2023.
The report from
RentCafe, which only considers market-rate properties with 50 units or more, analyzed five metrics of the apartment market to calculate a rental competitivity index (RCI): average vacant days, the percent of occupied apartments, the number of prospective renters for available units, lease renewal rate and the share of new units.
Overall, Milwaukee's score was 78.5.
That's
down from 85.7 in 2024 and
80.3 in 2023. Miami and suburban Chicago have the most competitive apartment markets, with RCIs at 96.7 and 85.1, respectively, which has been the case for the past few years.
Still, the report characterized Milwaukee's apartment market as highly competitive, with its RCI above the national average of 74.6.
Milwaukee's high ranking was largely due to having the fifth-highest lease renewal rate in the country at 71%, the report showed. That's compared to 70% in 2024 and 69.6% in 2023.
Here's how Milwaukee was ranked in other categories:
- 20th for average vacant days at 49. That's significantly up from 36 days in 2024 and 33 days in 2023.
- 18th for occupied apartments at 94%, which is slightly down from 95.1% in 2024 and 95.8% in 2023.
- Ninth for share of new apartment units at 0.46%. The share was 2.01% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2023. In order for an apartment unit to be considered new in the report, the units had to come online between January and March 2025. Those properties could include Evoni in Milwaukee's Third Ward and Caroline Heights Apartments in Elm Grove.
- Sixth for prospective renters per unit at 11. That's compared to 12 in 2024 and 14 in 2023.
"The mix of job opportunities and affordability has strengthened the appeal of the Midwest, which remains the most competitive region for renting at the start of the moving season," the report says.
For small apartment markets, Madison ranked fourth, up from sixth in 2024. There, 95.2% of units are occupied.
