--- title: Highest Rent in United States In Williston North Dakota, Not New York description: It's in North Dakota canonical: https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-18T21:50:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:14.475Z og:title: Highest Rent in United States In Williston North Dakota, Not New York og:description: It's in North Dakota og:url: https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61d9907282dbd05d/698682dc36176071d890aa34/williston-north-dakota-high-rent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: A mailbox is seen along a road during a snowstorm outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Highest Rent in United States In Williston North Dakota, Not New York twitter:description: It's in North Dakota twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61d9907282dbd05d/698682dc36176071d890aa34/williston-north-dakota-high-rent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Highest Rent in the U.S. Is Not in New York or San Francisco > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2aa970e7-bb05-4deb-b669-263cf27d3066&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Feb 18, 2014 9:50 PM UTC  A mailbox is seen along a road during a snowstorm outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013. A mailbox is seen along a road during a snowstorm outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013. Shannon Stapleton—Reuters by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Feb 18, 2014 9:50 PM UTC Everybody knows that in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the [rent is too damn high](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4o-TeMHys0). But turns out it’s even higher in Williston, North Dakota. According to a[ new study](http://www.apartmentguide.com/blog/williston-nd/) by _Apartment Guide,_ a 700-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Williston costs $2,394 a month. On average, a comparable place would cost $1,504 in the New York area, $1,411 in the Los Angeles area or $1,537 in the Boston area, the study found. Williston, situated in the northwest corner of North Dakota, has seen a major surge in population since the 2010 census. Today it boasts more than 30,000 residents — more than double the population from just a few years ago, the Williston _Herald_ [reports](http://www.willistonherald.com/news/williston-rent-highest-in-nation/article%5Fb0d5b4b4-9699-11e3-8b68-001a4bcf887a.html). Why the population boom is a small, remote town? Oil. It’s because of oil. The town has struggled to keep up with the growing demand for housing, which has driven rent prices way up. Last year, North Dakota saw a [200 percent increase](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-homelessfinal-north-dakota-idUSBREA1A1OT20140211) in homelessness. Recently, Williston officials recently established an Affordable Housing Committee to encourage developers to offer more reasonable housing rates. Dickinson, another North Dakota town about 130 miles south of Williston, clocked in at number 4 on the list. So, New Yorkers and Californians, next time you mumble to yourself about the rent being too damn high, remember: it could be way worse. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/"},"headline":"The Highest Rent in the U.S. Is Not in New York or San Francisco","datePublished":"2014-02-18T21:50:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:14.475Z","description":"It's in North Dakota","url":"https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/","keywords":["Newsfeed","nation","San Francisco","New York City","Apartments","cost of living","North Dakota","Rent"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61d9907282dbd05d/698682dc36176071d890aa34/williston-north-dakota-high-rent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61d9907282dbd05d/698682dc36176071d890aa34/williston-north-dakota-high-rent.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A mailbox is seen along a road during a snowstorm outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013.","caption":"A mailbox is seen along a road during a snowstorm outside of Williston, North Dakota March 11, 2013.","creditText":"Shannon Stapleton—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/8731/highest-rent-in-us-williston-north-dakota/","name":"The Highest Rent in the U.S. Is Not in New York or San Francisco"}}]}] ```