Fair Market Rent maps the cheapest places to rent just as clearly as the priciest. Here are the most affordable large US metros by FY2026 two-bedroom FMR.
FMR is HUD’s 40th-percentile gross-rent benchmark, not the market median. Verify on huduser.gov.
Cheapest large metros (2-bedroom FMR, FY2026)
| Rank | Metro area | 2 BR FMR / mo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX | $1,060 |
| 2 | El Paso, TX | $1,191 |
| 3 | Tulsa, OK | $1,217 |
| 4 | St. Louis, MO-IL | $1,218 |
| 5 | Oklahoma City, OK | $1,244 |
| 6 | Birmingham-Hoover, AL | $1,266 |
| 7 | Louisville, KY-IN | $1,272 |
| 8 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $1,274 |
See the full cheapest-metros ranking for all 75 of the largest metros. Note these are large metros — the lowest FMRs in the whole country are in rural non-metro counties.
Cheapest states by median FMR
| Rank | State | Median 2 BR FMR / mo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | $837 |
| 2 | Mississippi | $842 |
| 3 | Kentucky | $866 |
| 3 | Louisiana | $866 |
| 5 | West Virginia | $869 |
| 6 | North Dakota | $873 |
The full list is on the cheapest states ranking.
What low FMR tells you
A low FMR signals low local rents, which usually tracks a lower overall cost of living — the cheapest-FMR metros cluster in Texas, Oklahoma and the South. But FMR only measures rent: it excludes groceries, taxes and wages, so it is a rent indicator, not a full affordability score. For the opposite end, see the most expensive metros.
Check the FMR for your metro or state, then compare your rent in the calculator.