Los Angeles County rents fall to a four-year low, but housing still stretches new graduates budgets

Rent may be dropping in Los Angeles County — but the difference still doesn’t cut it for most recent college grads.According to a new report by Realtor.com, LA County rents hit a record four-year low in the second quarter of 2026, with the overall median asking rent dropping to $2,603 — a decrease of $91, which equates to 3.4%, from the previous year, having not been so low since 2021.The realty site also reported an area studio’s median asking rent as $2,004, units with zero to two bedrooms at $2,255 (a 3.6% drop year over year), and $3,441 for larger units with larger three-plus bedroom units (a 3.0% drop).With the shifting habits of the local renting market, which was undoubtedly affected by the height of COVID-19, having finally started to settle since its peak in 2022 — plus additional housing options provided by new multi-family development and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) construction — some renters can finally have some financial weight taken off their shoulders.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story But the report also found that with what most recent LA grads are earning, they may not be part of this happy group (neither are New York grads, by the way — even a computer science entry level worker there is projected to spend a whopping 38.2% of their income on a small studio, per another Realtor.com report).“Los Angeles renters are finally seeing meaningful relief after several years of exceptionally high rents, but lower asking rents don’t necessarily make housing affordable for recent graduates,” clarified Jiayi Xu, economist at Realtor.com.“Even with recent declines, many new graduates will still spend around or more than the recommended 30% of their income on rent.

While conditions are improving, entry-level workers ...