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Average Rent in Washington, DC

By the AverageRentCost Editorial Team · Last updated: October 2026

The FY2027 Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom home in District of Columbia is $2,438 a month, on HUD's gross-rent scale that includes utilities. District of Columbia sits in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area, and it is the District's single county-equivalent, and its rent level is set by the Washington metropolitan rent area it shares with the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. With a 2024 population of about 681,294, it is one of the rental markets we track in depth: below is the full bedroom-by-bedroom table, the income each size implies under the 30% rule, and how the county compares with the region and the country.

FY2027 Fair Market Rents in District of Columbia

The gaps between sizes tell you how this market prices space. In District of Columbia, stepping up from an efficiency to a one-bedroom adds $93 a month; stepping up from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom adds $234 a month; and stepping up from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom adds $669 a month. Families feel those steps directly, because voucher size standards and the 30% math both key off the bedroom count: a household approved for a 2-bedroom voucher that rents a 3-bedroom pays the difference itself unless the unit still passes the agency's rent-reasonableness test.

The 30% rule in District of Columbia

Housing is considered affordable when gross rent takes no more than 30% of gross household income. At the FY2027 2-bedroom FMR of $2,438, that means an income of about $97,520 a year — $29,256 of rent spread over twelve months. A 1-bedroom at $2,204 fits an income of $88,160, while a family-sized 4-bedroom at $3,658 needs $146,320. Remember that FMRs are gross rents: if a lease leaves utilities in the tenant's name, the housing agency applies a utility allowance so the combined cost is what gets compared with the payment standard. For workers, the 2-bedroom figure works out to about $47 an hour at full-time hours — a useful yardstick when weighing a job offer against local rent.

How Washington, DC compares

Against the District's own survey figures, Washington's 2-bedroom FMR of $2,438 sits above the District ACS median gross rent of $1,931 — the usual pattern for a benchmark priced off recent movers rather than long-held leases. Against the country as a whole it is $1,420 above the national median area figure of $1,018. Because the District is one county-equivalent inside a multi-state metro area, its FMR moves with the Washington region's rental market rather than with the city alone; the suburban counties that share its rent area appear in the county tables on the Virginia average rent page and the Maryland average rent page.

Vouchers and Fair Market Rents in District of Columbia

This is a metropolitan rent area. In a small number of the largest metro areas HUD also publishes Small Area FMRs by ZIP code, which housing agencies in those areas must or may use for vouchers; the figures here are the standard area-wide schedule. For Housing Choice Voucher holders, the number that matters day to day is the payment standard: the local housing agency sets it between 90% and 110% of the FMR for each unit size, and the subsidy is calculated from the lower of that standard or the actual gross rent. An FMR is not a rent control and not a quote — homes in District of Columbia lease both above and below these figures — but it is the benchmark every voucher lease is tested against, and a good neutral summary of where the modest end of this market sits. The same figures apply in Alexandria, Arlington, Charles, Clarke, Fairfax, Fairfax and other parts of the same rent area.

District of Columbia rent questions

Sources: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents FY2027 (county-level data file, effective October 1, 2026), huduser.gov; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B25031 (median gross rent), census.gov. Last verified: October 2026.