The short version is this. A two bedroom in Somerville rents for a median of $3,200 and takes 20 days, based on 222 rentals that closed in the six months ending 26 August 2026. Plan on about $7,150 in cash to move in. And the square you pick matters as much as the bedroom count: a two bedroom runs $3,400 by Union Square and $2,900 in Winter Hill, a $500 spread inside one small city.
Somerville is the biggest rental market I track, 1,967 closed rentals in 25 months, which means the samples here are deep enough to cut by square, and that table is the part of this page you won't find anywhere else. I pulled every closed rental in the MLS and ran the numbers myself. Nobody else publishes this, so I do. Updated monthly, 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 | $2,188 (14) | $2,175 (23) | $2,050 (32) |
| 1 bedroom | $2,550 (64) | $2,600 (109) | $2,550 (156) |
| 2 bedroom | $3,300 (122) | $3,200 (222) | $3,112 (324) |
| 3 bedroom | $3,950 (92) | $4,000 (187) | $3,900 (280) |
| 4 bedroom | $4,725 (44) | $5,000 (79) | $4,800 (110) |
| All rentals | $3,500 (340) | $3,500 (629) | $3,400 (914) |
Medians. Number of closed rentals in parentheses. Windows end 26 August 2026. Somerville's two bedroom at $3,200 is the most expensive of the ten towns I track outside Brookline and Cambridge, and the recent three months came in higher still at $3,300.
| Area | Rentals | Median, all sizes | 2 bedroom | Days to rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Hill | 63 | $2,900 | $2,900 (20) | 28 |
| Magoun Square | 40 | $2,950 | $2,950 (18) | 20 |
| East Somerville | 75 | $3,100 | $3,100 (43) | 34 |
| Union Square | 130 | $3,200 | $3,400 (62) | 25 |
| Ten Hills | 25 | $3,300 | $3,300 (15) | 38 |
| Inman Square | 35 | $3,550 | $3,250 (18) | 32 |
| Davis Square | 88 | $3,600 | $3,250 (20) | 25 |
| Spring Hill | 69 | $3,800 | $3,350 (22) | 27 |
Sorted by all size median, full 25 month period, listings where the MLS carries a neighborhood tag; about a third do. The all sizes column partly reflects what kind of housing each square rents, which is why the 2 bedroom column is the fairer comparison. The story renters should take: Winter Hill and Magoun Square are the value plays, a Green Line stop away from paying $400 more.
| Type | 2br median | 2br days | 3br median | 3br days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | $3,000 (454) | 26 | $3,625 (378) | 30 |
| Condo | $3,500 (234) | 19 | $4,300 (109) | 19 |
| Townhouse or duplex | $3,200 (49) | 22 | $3,900 (39) | 31 |
| Single family | too few | too few | $4,250 (22) | 34 |
Full 25 month period. The condo premium is $500 on a two bedroom and $675 on a three, and the condos also rent a week faster. That's the renovated stock pulling away from the classic triple decker, and it's the widest quality split of any town I track.
Priced right: 17 days. Overpriced: 49 days, and a $200 cut anyway.
1,967 closed Somerville rentals, 25 months
The median Somerville rental takes 26 days. Twelve percent rent within a week, thirty percent inside two weeks. Over the full period 52 percent went at exactly the original ask and another 12 percent went above it, and in the last six months the combined at or above figure ran 71 percent.
The gap between pricing right and pricing wrong is the widest I've measured anywhere: 17 days at or above ask against 49 days after a cut, a full month of vacancy, plus the $200 a month you gave up anyway. In a market where one rental in eight gets bid above asking, a unit that sits is telling you the price was wrong on day one.
| Time on market | Share |
|---|---|
| Under a week | 12% |
| 8 to 14 days | 18% |
| 15 to 30 days | 26% |
| 31 to 60 days | 25% |
| 61 to 90 days | 11% |
| More than 90 days | 8% |
All 1,967 rentals, 25 months.
About $7,150 for a typical two bedroom.
2.2 times one month of rent. 739 two bedroom rentals.
For a Somerville two bedroom:
So a $3,200 apartment realistically needs about $7,150 in the bank to sign, second only to Newton among the towns I track. 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. With almost two thousand rentals, these are the deepest feature samples of any town I run.
| Feature | Share of rentals | Rent difference | Speed difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second full bathroom | 36% | +$1,000 | 2 days faster |
| Built 2010 or later | 26% | +$950 | 5 days slower |
| A half bath | 10% | +$900 | 9 days faster |
| Fireplace | 7% | +$850 | 4 days slower |
| Garage parking | 24% | +$700 | 4 days faster |
| Laundry in the unit | 54% | +$662 | 2 days faster |
| Air conditioning | 70% | +$650 | no clear effect |
| Dishwasher | 81% | +$550 | 2 days faster |
| Private outdoor space | 41% | +$475 | 1 day faster |
| Shared laundry only, none in the unit | 44% | $650 less | 2 days slower |
| Built before 1940 | 63% | $975 less | 5 days faster |
| Any off street parking | 46% | +$250 | 4 days faster |
| Pets allowed | 69% | +$135 | 1 day faster |
| Heat included in the rent | 11% | $175 less | 6 days faster |
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 Somerville story is the renovation gap. Sixty three percent of the stock is pre war and rents $975 under the newer stock at the same bedroom count, the widest old building discount I've measured. Stack the condo table on top, $500 more than an apartment and a week faster, and the market is saying one thing loudly: the renovated triple decker unit is the product Somerville renters are fighting over, and the tired one is the discount bin.
Parking is worth less than you'd think, at $250 a space, because this is a transit city now. The Green Line extension put most of the rental stock near a stop, and renters pay for the square, not the driveway. Compare Medford next door at $448 a space.
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 bathroom, garage and year built rows rest on hard structural fields and are the most reliable. The amenity checkboxes are directional.
Somerville runs on the September 1 calendar. March through September all close in about three weeks, with the huge volume months in July and August as leases turn over for the fall. Then the door shuts: November and December rentals take about six weeks, and January is nearly as bad. If your lease ends between October and January, that's costing you real money every cycle. Get it onto a summer date.
| Month | Rentals closed | Median days to rent |
|---|---|---|
| January | 95 | 41 |
| February | 78 | 32 |
| March | 175 | 22 |
| April | 229 | 35 |
| May | 202 | 20 |
| June | 220 | 20 |
| July | 266 | 21 |
| August | 280 | 23 |
| September | 172 | 28 |
| October | 102 | 27 |
| November | 70 | 44 |
| December | 78 | 41 |
Two years pooled, 1,967 rentals.
| Bedrooms | Median size | Rent per square foot |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 450 sqft | $4.87 |
| 1 bedroom | 699 sqft | $3.89 |
| 2 bedroom | 1,000 sqft | $3.24 |
| 3 bedroom | 1,211 sqft | $3.00 |
| 4 bedroom | 1,588 sqft | $2.84 |
| 5 bedroom | 2,000 sqft | $2.79 |
At $3.24 a foot, the Somerville two bedroom is the most expensive space among my ten towns after Cambridge and Brookline, and you get less of it: 1,000 square feet against 1,100 or more everywhere west. You're paying for the squares and the T, not the floor plan. Square footage comes from the listing agent and is approximate.
Up, and here Somerville gives the cleanest same unit signal I have anywhere, because the market is big enough to produce 131 repeat rentals.
The headline median rose a mild 1.5 percent, from $3,350 to $3,400. Underneath it the bedroom counts split: three bedrooms jumped 7.6 percent, two bedrooms slipped 2.7, everything else drifted up a point or two.
The tiebreaker: across 131 Somerville units that rented twice at least six months apart, the median change was up 4.1 percent, with 91 up, 21 flat and 19 down. That's the strongest same unit growth of any town I track, on the biggest sample.
The honest summary: Somerville rents are rising around 4 percent on turnover, the fastest of my ten towns, with family sized units leading and the two bedroom the only segment giving renters any slack.
| Bedrooms | 12mo to Aug 2025 | 12mo to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $2,010 (28) | $2,050 (32) | up 2.0% |
| 1 bedroom | $2,525 (154) | $2,550 (156) | up 1.0% |
| 2 bedroom | $3,200 (375) | $3,112 (324) | down 2.7% |
| 3 bedroom | $3,625 (238) | $3,900 (280) | up 7.6% |
| 4 bedroom | $4,725 (124) | $4,800 (110) | up 1.6% |
| Same unit, rented twice | 131 matched pairs | up 4.1% | |
| Included | Share of rentals |
|---|---|
| Water | 81% |
| Sewer | 69% |
| Trash | 34% |
| Snow removal | 30% |
| Grounds maintenance | 21% |
| Laundry facilities | 21% |
| Parking | 20% |
| Hot water | 13% |
Heat doesn't make this list: only 11 percent of Somerville rentals include it, the lowest rate of any town I track. In a market where nearly two thirds of the stock is pre war, budget the winter gas bill as part of the rent, because it effectively is.
Own a rental in Somerville? 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 Somerville 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: 1,967 Somerville rentals, studios through seven bedrooms, settled between 26 July 2024 and 25 August 2026, pulled across the city's three zip codes and merged with duplicates removed by MLS number. 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. Square and neighborhood labels are as coded in the MLS; about a third of listings carry one. A handful of records carry out of town labels from data entry errors and stay in the totals. 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 26 July 2024 through 25 August 2026.