Philadelphia ranked among the top ten most popular major cities for renters looking for apartments leading up to this year’s peak rental season, writes Michaelle Bond for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

To determine the ranking, the nationwide apartment search platform RentCafe analyzed millions of apartment searches across the 150 largest cities in the United States. The ranking considered factors such as page views of apartment listings, saved searches, favorites, as well as unit availability.

The analysis examined data from the beginning of the year, a period when rental activity is typically slower before increasing with warmer weather and reaches its peak during the summer.

“Looking out your window today, you can see a major reason why,” said Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, RentCafe’s sister division.

Philadelphia ranked eighth on the list, reaffirming its popularity due to the city’s size, job hub accessibility, and its relative affordability compared to New York and other major cities on the East Coast.

RentCafe reported that most interest in Philadelphia apartments came from current city residents. Out-of-town searches also showed significant activity, with many of them coming from New York, Boston, and Washington D.C..

Read more about why Philadelphia is among the top cities for renters in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA.Today in March 2026.