A new report shows which U.S. cities are seeing the most active renter searches nationwide. Among the cities noted for the most activity, Atlanta has ranked high on the list. Meanwhile, it is also the most searched rental market nationwide.
Atlanta Ranks Among America’s Most Searched Rental Markets
Renter markets just experienced their busiest quarter, and now it’s time to examine the trends that emerged. Throughout the three months of Q3 2025, many cities have seen high activity, while others have stayed still. One city, in particular, stood out for its surge in rental search activity.
RentCafe has released a report looking into the activities of U.S renters between July and September 2025. Looking at the nationwide rental market, Atlanta ranks as the most engaged among Southern cities. What’s more surprising is that Atlanta has moved up the nationwide ranking, making it to the second position.
The city has been witnessing a high demand in the rental market. The high competition and cautious renting have also fueled the rising search rate. However, despite the high saved searches, the number of favorites added has fallen.
While the saved searches have grown by 13%, the favorites saved have dropped roughly 7%. This reflects how carefully Atlanta renters are approaching the market. Surprisingly, despite the fall, Atlanta still remains at the top when it comes to adding listings to favorites.
Apartment-seekers in the city have been careful with their approach, browsing many listings before saving their favorites. But the high competition in the market continues to push renters to act fast with their search.
What’s Fueling Atlanta’s Renter Momentum
To create this report, researchers at RentCafe compiled rental listing data across the 150 largest U.S. cities by population. Each city was assigned points based on four metrics, which determined its overall ranking. The points are given in four metrics: the availability rate, page views, favorites, and saved searches.
Cities with lower vacancy rates for the quarter scored higher in the availability metric. The metric comes with a maximum score of 40 points. The next metric is the page views, or how many times renters have viewed listing pages. The metric has a maximum score of 30 points.
The favorites metric has a maximum score of 15 points. It is calculated based on the total rental listings added to favorites in every city. These are listings most seriously considered by renters and have a higher chance of being taken.
The saved searches metric, worth up to 15 points, measures how actively renters organize their searches citywide each quarter.
Based on this, Atlanta scored a total score of 97.89 points. Its availability rank is 72, page views rank is 9, and saved searches rank is 4. However, it ranks at number 1 in the favorites metric. High renter activity has propelled Atlanta to the second-highest ranking nationwide.
