Renters across the country are increasingly seeking opportunities outside their home cities, a trend reshaping nearly half of the nation’s major rental markets as affordability and lifestyle flexibility upend traditional demand patterns. According to Realtor.com’s latest data and analysis, tenants are venturing well beyond familiar territory, drawn by emerging employment hubs, changing prices and evolving preferences—a marked shift from pre-pandemic behaviors.
Migration Reshapes Rental Traffic
Throughout 2025, rent growth has moderated nationally, but the story beneath the headline is a migration fueled by new demand. Twenty of the fifty largest U.S. metros now see greater online rental traffic from out-of-market seekers versus local residents, a dramatic reversal since 2019. This shift is most acute in markets such as Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina, where 69.6% of rental demand in the third quarter of 2025 came from outside the metro, compared to 60.6% in 2019. Local residents now account for only 30.4% of rental traffic, and the homeownership rate sits at 64.9%.
Hartford, Connecticut’s core experienced a similar transformation, with out-of-market interest reaching 67.8%—and only 32.2% of the traffic came from locals, down sharply from 48.9% six years ago. Hartford’s 2025 homeownership rate stands at 67.9%. Richmond, Virginia, saw out-of-market rental views climb to 66.1%, outstripping the 53.8% figure from 2019, while local traffic was just 33.9%. Providence-Warwick, Rhode Island-Massachusetts captured 66.0% from outsiders, with locals at 34.0% and Nashville’s outsider share was 64.8% against a robust 70.9% homeownership rate.
These cities, despite not offering the lowest rents nationally, provide relative affordability compared to neighboring large metros and attract new arrivals in search of value and opportunity.
Urban Strongholds Retain Local Renters
The reverse is true for enduring urban strongholds. New York’s metro repeatedly leads the nation with 74.8% of rental traffic from residents within the region, virtually unchanged since before the pandemic. The same holds for Chicago (74.1%), Los Angeles (69.6%), Dallas (67.9%) and Miami (64.5%). Out-of-market demand lags in these metros—just 25.2% of traffic in New York and 25.9% in Chicago, alongside much lower homeownership rates: 49.4% for New York and 66% for Chicago.
Metros like Los Angeles (46.4% homeownership) and Miami (57.5%) continue to show deep reservoirs of in-market rental activity, influenced by rent-stabilization protections and high home prices. Jiayi Xu, Realtor.com economist, notes that “affordability [continues] driving differences in local rental dynamics, even as national rent trends cool."
Transition Markets: A Closer Look
Other metros—Detroit, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Charlotte—have experienced the steepest declines in local market share. Philadelphia now sources 25.3% of rental traffic from New York, up from just 6.7% before the pandemic, as price differentials incentivize relocation. San Francisco’s online interest from nearby San Jose jumped to 18.4%, even while its rents are about 15.8% lower than San Jose’s. These shifts reflect the interplay of regional job markets, relative affordability and supply constraints.
For commercial real estate investors, the implications are clear: local-versus-out-of-market rental demand is not static. Inventory strategies, pricing approaches and capital deployment must account for rapidly shifting demand sources, particularly in metros now dominated by out-of-market traffic. Affordability remains the underlying catalyst, alongside remote work trends and the appeal of fast-growing employment hubs. Staying ahead of these shifts—where lease-up timelines, concessions and marketing channels may diverge dramatically—will be crucial for investors as they navigate the next cycle.
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