Rent rose 2.8% over the twelve months to June 2026
That is the US city average for rent of primary residence, measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of the consumer price index. The index (series CUUR0000SEHA, not seasonally adjusted) read 446.945 in June 2026 against 434.594 in June 2025, a rise of 2.84%.
It is the slowest June-to-June increase since 2021. It is also a single national figure, which is why it is a sanity check on your number rather than your number.
Eight years of rent increases
Twelve-month change to June, from the same BLS series, with headline inflation next to it for scale.
| Twelve months to June | Rent of primary residence | All items CPI |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 3.9% | 1.6% |
| 2020 | 3.2% | 0.6% |
| 2021 | 1.9% | 5.4% |
| 2022 | 5.8% | 9.1% |
| 2023 | 8.3% | 3.0% |
| 2024 | 5.1% | 3.0% |
| 2025 | 3.8% | 2.7% |
| 2026 | 2.8% | 3.5% |
Across those eight years the mean is 4.4% and the median 3.8%, which is the closest thing to a long-run average this series offers. The 8.3% in 2023 is the peak of the run, and three years later the index is running at roughly a third of it.
Rent is now rising slower than overall inflation
Look down the two columns for 2026: rent at 2.8%, all items at 3.5%. That is the first June since 2022 that rent has come in under headline inflation.
It matters for a renewal decision. If your costs are tracking the all-items number and you hold rent flat, you are taking a real-terms cut. A below-inflation increase is still a cut, just a smaller one.
The average is not your number
The CPI figure is one number for the whole country. What actually sets your increase is narrower:
- What comparable units near you are letting for right now. A national average cannot tell you this; current listings for comparable units near you can.
- What a vacancy costs you. One empty month is 8.3% of a year's rent. An increase that pushes a reliable tenant out can cost more than the increase earns.
- What your own record shows. A tenant's payment history is an input no index can give you. If you do not have that in one place, a rent ledger is where it belongs, and what a rent ledger is covers what goes in one.
- What the lease says. Whether the rent can change during a fixed term is set by the lease and by your state's law, so read the renewal and escalation clauses before you pick a date. What belongs in a lease record lists the terms worth having to hand.
Some places cap the increase by law
Whether anything limits your increase depends entirely on where the unit is, and the limits are set by states and cities rather than nationally. Three states that do cap it, quoted from each state's own source:
- California. Civil Code section 1947.12(a)(1) bars an owner from increasing, over any 12-month period, "the gross rental rate for a dwelling or a unit more than 5 percent plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10 percent, whichever is lower, of the lowest gross rental rate charged for that dwelling or unit at any time during the 12 months prior to the effective date of the increase." The base is that lowest prior rate, not today's rent. Subdivision (a)(2) adds that where the same tenant stays in occupancy, the rate "shall not be increased in more than two increments over that 12-month period." The cost-of-living figure is defined in subdivision (g) as a regional CPI measured April to April, not the national June figure above.
- Oregon. The Department of Administrative Services publishes a maximum annual rent increase each year under ORS 90.324. For 2026 it is 9.5% for tenancies subject to ORS 90.323 and for manufactured dwelling and marina facilities of 30 or fewer spaces, with a separate 6% figure for those facilities when they have more than 30 spaces.
- Washington. RCW 59.18.700 bars an increase during the first 12 months of a tenancy and, after that, an increase "in an amount greater than seven percent plus the consumer price index, or 10 percent, whichever is less." The section expires 1 July 2040.
Plenty of states set no statewide cap at all, and some cities add limits on top of state law, so do not assume either way from this list. Each of the statutes above also carries requirements this page does not cover, including notice periods, how often you may raise rent and which units are exempt. Notice periods in particular vary by state, by city and by lease. Read your own state's landlord and tenant legislation and your local rules in full before you commit to a figure or a date, and do not carry a percentage from one state into another.
Once you have picked a number, put it in writing
An increase only counts once the tenant has it in writing, with the old rent, the new rent and the date it starts. The rent increase letter template does the arithmetic and writes the notice around it: enter the current rent, the new rent and the start date, and it works out the monthly increase, the percentage and the annual cost, then gives you the letter as a PDF.
It reports the days of notice as a plain number and stops there, because whether that number is enough is a question for your state, your city and your lease, not for a template.