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Trying to rent an apartment? Find out if applications in your city are more likely to be approved or rejected.

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September 21, 2017 at 5:30 a.m. EDT
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Competition is high for rentals in many cities around the United States even as more apartments are under construction. RentCafe.com recently studied data on how many apartment applicants are approved as well as the average income associated with an approval or a rejection.

While Seattle, Portland, Ore., and San Diego have slightly higher acceptance rates, Washington has the fourth highest percentages of acceptances, according to resident screening data provided by RentGrow, a tenant-screening service. Nationally, the number of approvals rose between 2014 and 2017 from 81.7 percent to 83.2 percent. In the D.C. area, 90.4 percent of apartment applicants get accepted, compared to 93.7 percent in Seattle.

No. 1 reason why tenants relocate from D.C.? High rent.

Income is just one indicator of whether a rental application will be accepted, but of course those with higher incomes are considered a lesser risk for landlords. In D.C., the average income of approved renters is $73,000, while the average income of rejected renters is $62,000.

Nationally, the most cited reason for a rejected application is an account in default or collections, followed by civil court lawsuits, judgments or liens and negative or insufficient rental history. A low credit score was cited as the main reason for a rejection only 8 percent of the time.

Rejections are highest in rental markets with a more limited supply and where construction of apartments has been slow in recent years, such as Scottsdale, Ariz.; Detroit; Arlington and Garland in Texas; Henderson, Nev.; and Richmond. Rejection rates are also high in New York City’s notoriously tight rental market, which comes in seventh after the other cities.

View the full report here.

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