What Fort Worth apartments actually cost right now
Yardi Matrix, the data arm behind RentCafe, put Fort Worth’s citywide averages at $1,075 for a 520-square-foot studio, $1,259 for a 714-square-foot one-bedroom, $1,590 for a 1,049-square-foot two-bedroom, and $2,011 for a 1,321-square-foot three-bedroom, as of April 22, 2026. This dataset covers buildings of 50 or more units, so a small owner-operated fourplex or a distressed older complex can sit outside it in either direction.
| Unit type | Avg. rent | Avg. sq ft | As-of date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,075 | 520 | Apr. 22, 2026 | RentCafe / Yardi Matrix |
| 1 bedroom | $1,259 | 714 | Apr. 22, 2026 | RentCafe / Yardi Matrix |
| 2 bedroom | $1,590 | 1,049 | Apr. 22, 2026 | RentCafe / Yardi Matrix |
| 3 bedroom | $2,011 | 1,321 | Apr. 22, 2026 | RentCafe / Yardi Matrix |
Check a different tracker and the number moves. Here is why, laid out side by side instead of asserted as a single fact.
| Source | 2BR figure | Date | What it actually measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUD Small Area Fair Market Rent | $1,929 (Fort Worth city average) | FY2026, retrieved June 10, 2026 | The 40th-percentile voucher payment standard, ZIP-averaged, not an asking rent |
| HUD metro-wide FMR schedule | $1,705 | FY2025 | The same federal program, calculated county-wide before ZIP-level adjustment |
| RentCafe / Yardi Matrix (table above) | $1,590 | Apr. 2026 | Actual listed rents at 50-plus-unit buildings |
| Zumper | part of a $1,895 all-bedroom median | Apr. 2026 | 30-day rolling median across active listings of every size |
| RentHop | $1,600 | Feb. 2026 | Median of listings active or rented that month |
How much income do I need to comfortably rent in Fort Worth? HUD’s standard affordability benchmark caps rent at 30% of gross income. Against the Yardi Matrix two-bedroom average of $1,590, that puts the target at roughly $63,600 a year before taxes; against the HUD SAFMR figure of $1,929, it’s closer to $77,200. Property managers commonly apply a stricter in-house rule of 2.5 to 3 times the monthly rent in gross income, landing in the same range.
Rents move with the calendar too. RentHop’s February 2026 data shows an average 3.4% gap between Fort Worth’s peak summer pricing and its slower winter lows, with less competition from other renters during that dip. Supply is tightening from a separate direction: Doorstead’s market reporting shows Fort Worth’s multifamily building permits fell 43% in 2025, to just 146 units, after a Texas law shifted high-density approval authority away from cities. Fewer permits points toward fewer new units competing for renters over the next year or two.
When is the best time of year to find a move-in deal in Fort Worth? Winter, by a documented margin of roughly 3.4% against summer peak pricing, per RentHop’s tracked data.
Which neighborhood actually fits how you live
Named-neighborhood pricing and transit access don’t move together in Fort Worth, and treating a neighborhood list as pure geography misses that.
| Neighborhood | Avg. rent | Car-dependency | Best for | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Side | $1,300 | Low, served by the TEXRail North Side Station and the Stockyards Orange Line trolley | Renters commuting car-free to downtown or DFW Airport | Single-family rental median, not purpose-built apartments |
| Downtown / Near Southside | Not separately reported in the datasets gathered here | Low, Fort Worth Central and T&P stations serve TEXRail and TRE, plus a free downtown trolley and a 35-dock bike-share network | Renters who want to go car-free entirely | Budget with the citywide 1BR-2BR table above as a floor, not a ceiling, until a neighborhood-specific figure is published |
| Arlington Heights | $1,331 | High, no rail station, bus routes only | Renters wanting older, walkable housing stock near the West 7th corridor | Single-family rental median, not an apartment figure |
| Sycamore Creek | $1,081 | High, far east side, outside the rail network | Budget-first renters | Farthest from the downtown employment core of the named areas |
| Clearfork / Edwards Ranch | $2,316 | High, far southwest, outside the rail network | Renters prioritizing new-build amenities over car-free downtown access | The highest-priced named area in this dataset |
Two rows above draw from single-family rental medians rather than apartment-specific data; that’s a real gap in what’s independently published at the neighborhood level, not an oversight in this table.
The city’s largest current apartment project sits outside all five named areas above: Westside Village, a $1.7 billion, 1,785-unit development about two miles west of downtown, broke ground on its first phase in 2026, according to Doorstead’s market reporting.
Can I live in Fort Worth without a car? It’s realistic in a narrow band. Census-derived household data shows only about 10% of Fort Worth renter households have no vehicle at all, versus 49% with one and 32% with two, so most renters here budget for a car by default. TEXRail’s 27-mile line connects downtown to DFW Airport’s Terminal B, useful if your employer is Lockheed Martin, American Airlines, BNSF, Bell Textron, or another company clustered near the airport corridor or the west-side industrial base. Outside the North Side and Downtown/Near Southside corridors, Trinity Metro’s 24 bus routes exist, but service is thinner than in cities built around one dense core.
Before you apply
Texas gives landlords wide latitude on the front end and tenants a real remedy on the back end, and the gap between those two facts is where renters lose money. The Texas Property Code sets no cap on how much a landlord can charge for a security deposit; the market decides that number, not the law.
What the law does control is what happens after you move out. Under Property Code Section 92.103, a landlord must return your deposit, minus lawful deductions, within 30 days. That clock does not start automatically: it only begins once you have surrendered the unit and given the landlord a written forwarding address. Skip the written address and the 30 days never starts. If a landlord withholds part of a deposit in bad faith, Section 92.109 entitles you to $100 plus three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney fees.
- Verbal move-out notice: doesn’t satisfy the written forwarding-address requirement that starts your refund clock.
- No move-in photos: makes disputing a damage deduction far harder later.
- “Non-refundable cleaning fee”: Texas courts often treat it as part of the deposit anyway, subject to the same rules.
What should I bring to an apartment application in Fort Worth? Proof of income covering the multiplier named above, photo ID, and rental history contacts. Given the no-cap deposit rule, ask upfront exactly what the deposit will be and get it written into the lease before paying anything.
Rental scams worth knowing about here
The scam pattern actually documented in this market isn’t the overseas-landlord wire-transfer story most guides repeat. CBS News’ Dallas-Fort Worth investigative team found scammers advertising vacant, investor-owned homes as self-showing rentals, collecting deposits through apps like Zelle or CashApp, and vanishing before a real tenant discovered someone else already held the lease.
What are common Fort Worth apartment rental scams to watch for? Listings that skip an in-person or verified virtual showing before requesting payment, any request to pay by Zelle, CashApp, or wire transfer instead of a documented method, and “landlords” claiming to be out of state with no direct phone verification. The Texas Attorney General’s office recommends reporting suspected scams to local law enforcement and the FTC.
Getting around Fort Worth without – or with – a car
Trinity Metro operates the city’s transit backbone: TEXRail, a 27-mile commuter line linking downtown Fort Worth to DFW Airport’s Terminal B since January 2019, the Trinity Railway Express to downtown Dallas, and 24 local bus routes. System-wide, that network carried about 20,900 rides per weekday in the first quarter of 2026. Downtown adds a free circulating trolley and a 35-station bike-share network, both absent from neighborhoods outside the Near Southside and Cultural District core.
Listing prices shift week to week, and every figure above reflects a specific dated snapshot rather than a live market. Cross-check current listings directly before treating any of these numbers as a quote.
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