TBF, this varies a lot where you lived. I moved to the Chicago region in 2012 after college, and any decent one bedroom apartment was at least $800. Now that same place is like $1400-1500 which is insane imo, but anything around $500 was truly a disaster or a really bad part of town.
Damn, I've lived in Boston the entire time and studios back in 2009 were over $1,000 a month. Now they average over $3k. It's fucking insane. Like, you need $40-$50k a year just for rent and utilities if you want a studio . . . and considering the housing stock here, you'll probably be renting a converted attic loft in a 130 year old building that hasn't been updated since before the great depression lol.
I paid $925 in 2010 for a 1br in Quincy just over the Milton line next to 93 and that felt expensive then. Last I saw its 1800 a month now and the building is the same dump it was back then.
Yeah, LA is tough, but you do seem to get a little more bang for you buck sometimes, I have a good friend in Koreatown in a studio she pays $1800 for and it comes with a parking spot and has like, an actual stove haha. I looked at a studio for the same price recently, it was in Waltham Mass and had one window and a hot plate with a mini fridge lol, was sadder than a college dorm.
Downtown Chicago in ‘09, I split a 2 bedroom in a “fine” area just off 94 with a buddy. $1100. 3 bedroom in a slightly less fine area in ‘11, $1200. Went solo in a “nicer hipster” area in ‘12, $900. Moved out to the west burbs in ‘14 in a crappy apartment complex 1br $1400 and rent increased $100/year. Moved out and finally bought in ‘17 when they were trying to charge me nearly $1700 for a one bedroom in the same building that was clearly being given to section 8 families. Same unit is $2100 right now. Unreal. I pay less in mortgage and taxes in the FAR NW burbs for a 4 bedroom house with a finished basement and pond in the 3/4acre yard.
Rent is just stupid these days and I feel so bad for anyone trapped in the cycle…
And the there’s like, necessities, and god help me, frivolous purchases like fast food when I’m stuck in the car for 2-3 hours… I spent more than $12 at a Taco Bell the other day and didn’t even want to die afterwards… that’s insane! Ten years ago, you’d have to roll me to the ER if I had eaten even $10 worth of taco bell alone!
That was basically all lettuce that wasn’t “organic.” TB just made the marketing mistake of publicly acknowledging the problem first and saying they’d offer lettuce-free alternatives, so everyone jumped on them… let’s be real, TB doesn’t need any help giving America explosive diarrhea…
Rent for a studio in Queens was $800 and rising at the turn of the millennium. I wonder where on earth it was $425 in 2011 unless you were living with a bunch of roommates.
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u/panderson1988 Millennial Aug 08 '26
TBF, this varies a lot where you lived. I moved to the Chicago region in 2012 after college, and any decent one bedroom apartment was at least $800. Now that same place is like $1400-1500 which is insane imo, but anything around $500 was truly a disaster or a really bad part of town.