It’s that time of year again!
With Thanksgiving around the corner, we at Apartment List are excited for the upcoming celebrations: family time, TV, and turkey (lots of it)! Which made us wonder – how much would rent cost in Houston if we paid with Thanksgiving dinners? Lo and behold, we present the 2015 Apartment List Turkey Index!
Methodology
To create the index, we used two data points: the median price of a 2 bedroom apartment and the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner in each city. The rental data was pulled from hundreds of thousands of listings from our website.
For the Thanksgiving dinner, we used the average prices of a Thanksgiving dinner ($50.70 when you include turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie), and adjusted the prices for each city using the grocery component of a cost of living index. Finally, we divided the 2 bedroom price by the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner to get the Turkey Index.
Dinners for Days
Looking at the data, we see that there is substantial variation in turkey dinner rents across cities in the United States. Houston renters have to pay 31 Thanksgiving dinners to make one month of rent, and Chicago (26.5) follows closely behind. Atlanta (30.5), Austin (33), and Denver (33) are among the most expensive in our study.
Houston renters have to pay 31 Thanksgiving dinners to make one month of rent
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If you’re interested, we’re including data for 88 cities across the United States. Check out the table below to see how your city compares – and have a great holiday celebration!
City
Average Price of 2BR (October 2015)
Turkey Dinner Index (2BR)
San Francisco, CA
$4950
78
Washington, DC
$3000
57.5
New York, NY
$3500
49
Miami, FL
$2680
48.5
Boston, MA
$2550
48
Los Angeles, CA
$2200
41
San Jose, CA
$2500
41
New Orleans, LA
$1800
35
San Diego, CA
$1900
35
Dallas, TX
$1750
34.5
Seattle, WA
$2190
34
Fort Lauderdale, FL
$1800
34
Portland, OR
$1960
33
Austin, TX
$1370
33
Denver, CO
$1530
31
Houston, TX
$1350
31
Atlanta, GA
$1550
30.5
Chicago, IL
$1590
26.5
Minneapolis, MN
$1440
26
Nashville, TN
$1170
24.5
Virginia Beach, VA
$1100
23.5
Pittsburgh, PA
$1160
23
San Antonio, TX
$940
22
Durham, NC
$1050
22
Corpus Christi, TX
$910
21.5
Sacramento, CA
$1250
21.5
Tacoma, WA
$1050
21
Boise City, ID
$830
21
St. Paul, MN
$1100
20.5
Tampa, FL
$1000
20.5
Manchester, NH
$1160
20.5
Providence, RI
$1200
20
Vancouver, WA
$1050
20
Colorado Springs, CO
$900
19.5
Anchorage, AK
$1200
19.5
Fort Worth, TX
$900
19.5
Salt Lake City, UT
$900
19
Baltimore, MD
$1170
18
Orlando, FL
$1000
19
Philadelphia, PA
$1050
18.5
Grand Rapids, MI
$850
18.5
Raleigh, NC
$930
18
Knoxville, TN
$750
17.5
Omaha, NE
$850
17.5
Norfolk, VA
$830
17.5
Richmond, VA
$810
17.5
Madison, WI
$880
17
Albuquerque, NM
$820
17
Charlotte, NC
$910
17
Columbus, OH
$800
17
Lexington, KY
$790
17
Kansas City, MO
$720
16.5
Baton Rouge, LA
$840
16.5
Phoenix, AZ
$800
16.5
Des Moines, IA
$730
16
Spokane, WA
$750
15.5
Fargo, ND
$900
15.5
St. Louis, MO
$840
15.5
Lincoln, NE
$760
15.5
Tulsa, OK
$750
15.5
Louisville, KY
$700
15.5
Milwaukee, WI
$800
15.5
Cincinnati, OH
$680
15
Oklahoma City, OK
$690
15
Jacksonville, FL
$780
14.5
Bakersfield, CA
$760
14.4
Tucson, AZ
$700
14.4
Little Rock, AR
$670
14.4
Winston-Salem, NC
$700
14.4
Mobile, AL
$730
14
El Paso, TX
$750
14
Las Vegas, NV
$850
14
Rochester, NY
$680
14
Hartford, CT
$900
13.5
Huntsville, AL
$640
13.5
Reno, NV
$750
13.5
Detroit, MI
$600
13.5
Indianapolis, IN
$630
13.5
Wichita, KS
$600
13
Stockton, CA
$780
13
Montgomery, AL
$640
12.5
Memphis, TN
$570
12.5
Birmingham, AL
$650
12.5
Columbus, GA
$630
12
Cleveland, OH
$600
11
Fort Wayne, IN
$500
10.5
Akron, OH
$600
10
Andrew has lived in 13 different apartments in the past six years. He currently is a Manager of Growth Strategy at Apartment List, leading research on rental market trends and renter satisfaction. His interests include cycling, cooking and tennis.
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