Los Angeles rents dropped to a nearly five-year low this spring, offering tenants some very welcome relief. Yet, the city’s newly minted college graduates still find themselves squeezed by stubborn housing costs.
L.A. County’s median asking rent dropped 3.4%, or $91, to $2,603 by the end of June, hitting a level not seen since late 2021, according to the latest Realtor.com® Los Angeles rent report.
For context, the current median sits nearly 10% below the 2022 peak. Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu attributes this recent pullback in rents to a surge in multifamily construction, which boosted supply and, in doing so, put downward pressure on asking prices.
However, for the Class of 2026 looking to secure rentals this summer, the L.A. housing picture is far less rosy. Many new graduates can expect to pay more than 30% of their salary for a studio apartment in the city, exceeding the common threshold for rent affordability.
To estimate graduates’ entry-level salaries in L.A. County, Realtor.com economists used national salary projections from the National Association of Colleges and Employers as a baseline and applied a 15% geographic premium to reflect the West Coast hub’s higher wage levels.
What new grads can expect to spend on rent
The analysis focuses on young professionals navigating the job and housing markets with a bachelor’s degree in four top majors: computer science, business, social science, and communications.
Under the salary adjustments accounting for the L.A. market conditions, a computer science graduate is projected to earn roughly $94,000 a year. Degrees in business, social science, and communications come with more modest salary expectations of $79,000, $76,000, and $73,000, respectively.
To determine how much college-educated entry-level workers would have to set aside for housing, Realtor.com researchers used the median asking rent for a studio, which is the most likely apartment choice for a recent grad at the start of their career.
In the second quarter of 2026, the median asking rent for a studio in L.A. County stood at $2,004 per month. Over the course of a year, this rent would eat up just over a quarter of a computer science graduate’s gross income and 30.4% of a business graduate’s pre-tax salary.
A graduate working in the social science field should expect to put 31.6% of their salary toward housing, while an entry-level communications specialist would have to part with nearly a third of their earnings to make rent.
Financial experts traditionally advise spending no more than 30% of gross income on housing costs.
By comparison, the median asking rent for a studio across the 50 largest U.S. metros stood at $1,422 in June 2026, consuming just 20.9% of the average national salary for a computer science graduate, 24.8% for a business graduate, 25.8% for a social science graduate, and 26.8% for a graduate in communications.
Still, L.A.’s graduates are much better off compared to their counterparts in New York City, where a studio renting for a median price of $3,116 per month would gobble up over 38% of a computer science graduate’s salary and more than 45% of a business graduate’s pre-tax earnings.
Roommates, ADUs, and living at home
Unsurprisingly, many 20-somethings choose to defer their dream of solo living and opt to either rent with roommates or live with their parents to save money.
A recent data analysis from Realtor.com found that a record 25.2 million adults under age 35 lived with their parents in 2025. Even with roughly 70% of 25- to 35-year-olds living with parents being employed, the numbers show that earning a paycheck does not automatically guarantee independent living.
Lynnsey Ross, an agent with The Ross Group at Douglas Elliman in Beverly Hills, CA, tells Realtor.com that earlier this week three recent graduates attended one of her open houses, and they all lived together.
“It really summed up what I’m seeing right now,” says Ross. “While some new grads are able to rent a place on their own, many are choosing roommates because it helps their budget go further.”
The agent stresses that for many young people, cohabitation with roommates is not a setback but “a smart way to make Los Angeles work while still living in the walkable neighborhoods they want to be in.”
According to Ross, others are getting creative by considering accessory dwelling units or compromising on their location of choice.
“At the end of the day, it’s about making their budget work without giving up the lifestyle they’re looking for,” stresses Ross.
Housing data parsed by Realtor.com experts shows that between 2022 and 2024, L.A. County saw a surge in ADUs.
“As those permitted units complete construction—typically requiring six to 18 months from permit to occupancy—a growing wave of new small rental units has been entering the market, adding downward price pressure concentrated in the smaller-unit segment,” explains Xu.
The spike in supply of smaller housing units in the area has translated into a 3.6% year-over-year decline in the median asking rent for L.A. County apartments ranging in size from studios to two bedrooms.
L.A. renters’ income gap
Within the city of Los Angeles, which anchors the county, the median asking rent stood at $2,742 in June, down 2%, or $57, from a year ago. It is still more than $100 higher than the county’s median.
Despite the downward trajectory in rent prices within city limits, a minimum income of nearly $110,000 is required to afford the median rent. That is 24% higher than the city’s estimated median household income of $88,730.
According to information from the Los Angeles Housing Department, about 64% of the city’s households are renters, and by some estimates, more than half of them are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30% of income on housing.
