The short version is this. A two bedroom in Arlington rents for a median of $2,862 and takes 20 days, based on 94 rentals that closed in the six months ending 26 August 2026. Plan on about $6,000 in cash to move in. And Arlington is the fastest moving market I track: the typical rental leases in 22 days, one in six goes inside a week, and only one in twenty sits past three months.
I pulled every closed Arlington rental in the MLS for the last 25 months, 753 of them, and ran the numbers myself. Nobody else publishes this, so I do. It gets updated every month, and the other towns I cover are at the markets page.
These are rented prices, not asking prices. What tenants signed for, not what landlords hoped for. Three windows because the short one is current and the long one is stable. Anything with fewer than ten rentals behind it I leave out rather than pretend it means something.
| Bedrooms | Last 3 months | Last 6 months | Last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | too few | $1,838 (10) | $1,825 (11) |
| 1 bedroom | $2,300 (29) | $2,275 (44) | $2,200 (72) |
| 2 bedroom | $2,900 (51) | $2,862 (94) | $2,800 (143) |
| 3 bedroom | $4,200 (32) | $4,100 (49) | $3,975 (76) |
| 4 bedroom | $5,275 (18) | $5,100 (23) | $5,000 (28) |
| All rentals | $3,075 (134) | $2,900 (223) | $2,900 (339) |
Medians. Number of closed rentals in parentheses. Windows end 26 August 2026. Arlington still produces a real studio market, which Belmont next door does not, and the three bedroom at $4,100 now prices closer to Newton than to Waltham.
| Area | Rentals | Median, all sizes | 2 bedroom | Days to rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Arlington | 119 | $3,100 | $3,000 (67) | 18 |
| Arlington Heights | 75 | $2,900 | $2,900 (40) | 30 |
Full 25 month period, listings where the MLS carries a neighborhood tag; most Arlington listings carry none and sit only in the town totals. The pattern is clean though: East Arlington, the end near the bikeway and Alewife, rents for $100 more and leases in 18 days against 30 in the Heights. Closer to the train is worth more and moves faster, even inside one town.
| Type | 2br median | 2br days | 3br median | 3br days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | $2,800 (181) | 19 | $3,400 (55) | 18 |
| Condo | $2,900 (78) | 19 | $3,700 (19) | 21 |
| Townhouse or duplex | $2,925 (42) | 22 | $4,200 (41) | 25 |
| Single family | $3,100 (14) | 44 | $4,200 (41) | 23 |
Full 25 month period. The three bedroom split is $800 between an apartment and a townhouse or single family, which in Arlington usually means half a two family against the whole house.
Priced right: 15 days. Overpriced: 42 days, and a $200 cut anyway.
753 closed Arlington rentals, 25 months
The median Arlington rental takes 22 days, the fastest of any town I track. Sixteen percent rent within a week, thirty five percent inside two weeks, and only five percent sit past ninety days, the smallest stale tail I've measured anywhere.
The pricing math is the sharpest version of a pattern I find in every town: at or above ask leases in 15 days, cutting takes 42 and gives up a median $200 a month anyway. Over the full period, 55 percent of Arlington rentals went at exactly the original ask and another 9 percent above it, and in the last six months that combined figure hit 70 percent.
| Time on market | Share |
|---|---|
| Under a week | 16% |
| 8 to 14 days | 19% |
| 15 to 30 days | 29% |
| 31 to 60 days | 21% |
| 61 to 90 days | 10% |
| More than 90 days | 5% |
All 753 rentals, 25 months.
About $6,000 for a typical two bedroom.
A little over twice one month of rent. 316 two bedroom rentals.
For an Arlington two bedroom:
So a $2,900 apartment realistically needs about $6,000 in the bank to sign, which is the gentlest up front ask of the towns I track alongside Watertown, and well under Newton's $7,400. If that shapes your search, better to know now. Reach out and I'll send you what I currently have available.
Every feature below is compared within the same bedroom count, so a two bedroom is only measured against another two bedroom, and any comparison with fewer than ten rentals on either side gets thrown out.
| Feature | Share of rentals | Rent difference | Speed difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fireplace | 26% | +$900 | no clear effect |
| A half bath | 18% | +$562 | no clear effect |
| Second full bathroom | 23% | +$550 | no clear effect |
| Air conditioning | 65% | +$550 | 2 days faster |
| Laundry in the unit | 41% | +$512 | no clear effect |
| Garage parking | 42% | +$325 | 7 days faster |
| Private outdoor space | 29% | +$300 | 2 days faster |
| Two or more parking spaces | 49% | +$250 | 1 day faster |
| Shared laundry only, none in the unit | 56% | $350 less | 3 days slower |
| Heat included in the rent | 38% | $262 less | 12 days slower |
| Built before 1940 | 51% | $399 less | 5 days faster |
| Pets allowed | 60% | about $80 | 4 days faster |
| Dishwasher | 81% | no rent effect | 5 days faster |
| Walking distance to a T stop | 38% | about $88 | no clear effect |
Median differences within bedroom count. The bottom rows stay in on purpose. A report that finds a premium on every feature is a report you shouldn't trust.
The Arlington oddity is the heat included row. Units with heat in the rent lease for $262 less and sit twelve days longer. That's not because heat is bad. Heat included clusters in the older shared boiler buildings, which are the slower, cheaper end of this market, so the row is telling you which buildings include heat, not what heat is worth. I publish it anyway because a table that only shows premiums is advertising, not data.
The dishwasher row makes the same point from the other side. Four out of five Arlington rentals have one, so it adds nothing to rent. But the fifth that doesn't leases five days slower. Some features stop being upgrades and become entry requirements, and in Arlington the dishwasher has crossed over.
Those numbers describe what a unit was listed with, not what I verified in person. Agents who fill out listings carefully also tend to be marketing better units, so part of what any feature appears to be worth is really the value of a better building and a better listing. The fireplace, bathroom, garage and year built rows rest on hard structural fields and are the most reliable. The amenity checkboxes are directional.
May is the sprint: the median May rental went in 12 days, the fastest month in any town I cover. The whole April through September stretch runs three weeks or less. The other end is January and November at 40 days. Same advice as everywhere, with sharper numbers behind it: list in spring or summer, and never let a lease end in November.
| Month | Rentals closed | Median days to rent |
|---|---|---|
| January | 36 | 40 |
| February | 40 | 19 |
| March | 46 | 22 |
| April | 79 | 18 |
| May | 71 | 12 |
| June | 88 | 18 |
| July | 96 | 20 |
| August | 107 | 19 |
| September | 56 | 24 |
| October | 46 | 31 |
| November | 44 | 40 |
| December | 44 | 31 |
Two years pooled, 753 rentals.
| Bedrooms | Median size | Rent per square foot |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 400 sqft | $4.25 |
| 1 bedroom | 650 sqft | $3.35 |
| 2 bedroom | 1,100 sqft | $2.67 |
| 3 bedroom | 1,600 sqft | $2.45 |
| 4 bedroom | 2,200 sqft | $2.18 |
An Arlington studio costs nearly twice as much per square foot as a three bedroom, the same roommate math as every town I run. Square footage comes from the listing agent and is approximate, so trust the pattern more than the exact cents.
The headline says perfectly flat: the all bedroom median was $2,900 in both years. The units say up. Here's how both are true.
Every bedroom count except one rose. Studios up 9 percent, one bedrooms up 4.8, three bedrooms up 4.6, four bedrooms up 3.6. The one soft spot is the two bedroom, down 3.4 percent, and since two bedrooms are four out of ten Arlington rentals, they held the overall median still while everything around them climbed.
The same unit check settles it: across 48 Arlington units that rented twice at least six months apart, the median change was up 2.7 percent, with 31 up, 13 flat and only 4 down. Arlington rents are drifting up around 3 percent, with the two bedroom the one segment where renters have any leverage.
| Bedrooms | 12mo to Aug 2025 | 12mo to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,675 (15) | $1,825 (11) | up 9.0% |
| 1 bedroom | $2,100 (90) | $2,200 (72) | up 4.8% |
| 2 bedroom | $2,900 (160) | $2,800 (143) | down 3.4% |
| 3 bedroom | $3,800 (72) | $3,975 (76) | up 4.6% |
| 4 bedroom | $4,825 (32) | $5,000 (28) | up 3.6% |
| Same unit, rented twice | 48 matched pairs | up 2.7% | |
The studio rows rest on 15 and 11 closings, so read that 9 percent as directional rather than precise.
| Included | Share of rentals |
|---|---|
| Water | 82% |
| Sewer | 75% |
| Parking | 54% |
| Trash | 50% |
| Grounds maintenance | 42% |
| Laundry facilities | 35% |
| Snow removal | 35% |
| Hot water | 30% |
| Heat | 28% |
Arlington landlords include more than any town I track: four in five cover water and more than half cover parking. Just remember what the feature table said about the heat included buildings before you treat included utilities as free money.
Own a rental in Arlington? These are the numbers I price units with every week. If you want to know what yours should rent for, send me the address and what it last rented at, and I'll tell you what I'd list it for and how long I think it takes. No charge and no pressure, it's a five minute exercise for me.
Renting instead? Get in touch and I'll send you what I have available, and here's my general guide to Arlington if you're new to the area.
Source. Every figure on this page is calculated from closed rental transactions recorded in MLS Property Information Network: 753 Arlington rentals, studios through six bedrooms, settled between 28 July 2024 and 25 August 2026. These are rents tenants actually signed, not asking prices.
Method. Medians, not averages. Time on market is the MLS days on market field. Any figure resting on fewer than ten rentals gets left out entirely.
What's approximate. Square footage, amenities and included utilities are entered by listing agents and aren't independently verified. Neighborhood labels are as coded in the MLS and most listings carry none. August 2026 is partial, through the 25th.
Corrections. If you find an error, tell me. I'll fix it and note it in the log below. That's the deal.
Based on information provided to and compiled by MLS Property Information Network, Inc. covering the period 28 July 2024 through 25 August 2026.