(NewsNation) — The cost of living alone is rising, and the so-called “singles tax” is now at an all-time high, according to a new Zillow analysis.
Nationwide, solo renters pay an extra $7,562 per year for a one-bedroom unit compared to couples who split rent with their partners. That premium, known as the singles tax, is up by more than $450 from a year ago.
In high cost-of-living areas like New York City and San Francisco, the singles tax is much higher.
Singles in the Big Apple pay an average of $20,100 more per year to live alone, the highest premium of any U.S. city.
“As anyone on the dating scene in NYC will tell you, it’s not easy to be single here, and the lack of affordable rentals just adds another layer to that struggle,” Casey Roberts, home trends expert at Zillow’s New York City brand StreetEasy, said in a statement.
California’s Bay Area also comes at a steep price for singles; San Francisco ($14,793) and San Jose ($14,254) had the second and third highest singles tax in the country. Boston ($12,289) came in fourth followed by Washington, D.C. ($12,019).
The sky-high singles tax won’t come as a surprise to most. Rents have been steadily increasing and are up in 47 of the 50 largest metro areas from a year ago, according to Zillow.
The typical U.S. asking rent hit $1,968 in January, up 3.5% from a year earlier and up more than 33% since the beginning of the pandemic.
The latest inflation report further underscored the nation’s housing affordability challenge. Shelter accounted for roughly 30% of the overall increase in the consumer price index last month.
But it’s not all bad news for renters.
Zillow’s data shows landlords are increasingly offering concessions to attract renters. Last month, more than 41% of the real estate company’s rental listings featured incentives — a record high in Zillow data.
Those freebies are expected to slow down in the months ahead when competition in the rental market picks up. A lot of that will depend on what happens with mortgage rates, which have kept potential buyers on the sidelines.
Zillow determined each city’s singles tax based on the median-priced one-bedroom rental in December 2024. That number was multiplied by 12 to get the typical annual rent and then halved to figure out how much more it costs to live alone versus with a partner splitting the cost.
Top ten U.S. cities with the highest singles tax, according to Zillow:
- New York City, NY: $20,100
- San Francisco, CA: $14,793
- San Jose, CA: $14,254
- Boston, MA: $12,829
- Washington, D.C.: $12,019
- San Diego, CA: $11,897
- Seattle, WA: $11,556
- Los Angeles, CA: $10,470
- Long Beach, CA: $10,228
- Denver, CO: $9,676