The Flatiron District is not known for rental deals, but our Rent Score tool can help you find the best values available. (Getty Images)
When it comes to the most expensive NYC streets for rental apartments, one neighborhood has it locked up.
StreetEasy’s Rent Score tool compares the relative cost of Manhattan apartment buildings while holding constant the qualities of the apartments themselves (e.g. bedroom count, floor, penthouse units) to produce a score that represents the building’s overall priciness. Using this tool, we looked for Manhattan streets with the highest-scoring buildings.
And in case you didn’t guess it already, the celeb-filled downtown neighborhood of Tribeca came out on top, claiming five of the top 10 most expensive streets for rentals in NYC.
Tribeca Has Highest Number of Pricey Rental Streets
The priciest rental stretch in all the nabe is Laight Street, where residential buildings had a median Rent Score of 9.81. This is reflected in the prices at 79 Laight, which has a median asking rent of $22,500 and a Rent Score of 9.9. Going by NYC’s typical 40-times-the-rent rule, you’d need to earn at least $900,000 per year to afford the average apartment there.
Even the least-expensive rental building on Laight, at number 68, has a median asking rent of $6,650, meaning you’d need $266,000 per year to land an average 1-bedroom.
Manhattan 1-2BRs Under $3,000 on StreetEasy Article continues below
Following Laight Street in the ranks of Tribeca’s most gilded rental addresses are Hudson, Warren, Washington, and Lispenard streets. All of them have a median Rent Score above 9.72, marking them as some of the priciest places to sign a lease in all of New York City.
Median Asking Rent: $26,500
Nearby SoHo shouldn’t feel left out, though. This beloved area filled with cast-iron loft buildings and designer retailers landed four streets on our list. Greenwich Street’s 9.81 median Rent Score makes it tops in the neighborhood, and the number-two most expensive street for rentals on the whole island of Manhattan.
So what’s the number-one street in terms of costliness? It’s in neither Tribeca nor SoHo — but it’s just as tony as either, and home to just as many bold-faced names. It’s Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron neighborhood, where the median Rent Score is 9.83.
Contributing to that score are buildings like 212 Fifth Avenue, the most expensive building on the most expensive rental street in NYC, according to our tool. The median asking rent at 212 Fifth is a hefty $26,500 per month. (And the units? Not bad.) If you want to qualify for the average apartment here, though, you’ll probably need to show annual income of at least $1,060,000.
| Street | Neighborhood | Median Rent Score |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth Avenue | Flatiron | 9.83 |
| Greenwich Street | SoHo | 9.81 |
| Laight Street | Tribeca | 9.81 |
| Hudson Street | Tribeca | 9.79 |
| Greene Street | SoHo | 9.77 |
| Mercer Street | SoHo | 9.77 |
| Warren Street | Tribeca | 9.77 |
| Washington Street | Tribeca | 9.72 |
| Lispenard Street | Tribeca | 9.72 |
| Crosby Street | SoHo | 9.71 |
How to Live On or Near NYC’s Expensive Streets for Less
It’s important to note that we’re talking here about the median Rent Score of a given street — meaning that even if it’s very high, half the rental buildings on the street have lower scores.
For instance: most rental buildings on Greenwich Street in SoHo score in the high 9s, but one building — 508 Greenwich — has a Rent Score of 5. Here, the last available 2-bedroom rented for $4,000 per month. Two roommates earning $80,000 each could swing this, or a single person or couple whose income totaled $160,000 per year.
And while $4,000 per month is certainly not cheap, nor affordable to the average New Yorker, compare it to the building across the street: At 505 Greenwich St., the least-expensive 2-bedroom is now asking $8,750 per month.
NYC 1-2BRs under $2,500 on StreetEasy Article continues below
Even Tribeca offers some relative deals. The building at 18 North Moore St. has a rent score of 5.2, and 2-bedrooms went last year for under $4,000 per month. At 376 Broadway, the Rent Score is 4.9, and 1-bedrooms are now available starting at $3,680 — not too far above the $3,550 median asking rent for all Manhattan. A couple earning $148,000 per year would likely qualify.
By no means do these rentals in the most expensive neighborhoods fit everyone’s budget. But New Yorkers who dream of living on their favorite street can hopefully use the Rent Score tool to find a place they love and can afford without being millionaires.
To use the Rent Score tool, select a neighborhood and street. Even if the area seems out of your budget, zoom in on the map to find the blue and green dots — these are the cheaper apartments in the area. Good deals will go off the market quickly, so be sure to save these buildings on StreetEasy to stay aware of current and future availability.
And for more tips, read how to find cheap apartments in pricey neighborhoods.
How We Did It
Only streets with at least five buildings that have a Rent Score are included in these rankings. Street Rent Scores given here are the median Rent Score of every building on that street in a given neighborhood. Here’s a specific explanation of our Rent Score methodology.
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