Philadelphia ranks 20th in nation's highest rent listings

The beginning of November doesn't merely portend the onslaught of the holiday season. It also brings monthly rent reports, so we can see exactly where Philadelphia's fluctuating rents leave us in the national scheme of things.

According to the latest report from Abodo, the national median rent made its biggest single-month increase of the year last month. The $12 increase brought the national median to $1,032 in November — a jump of 1.37 percent overall for the year. Nationally, Cleveland remains at the top of the heap for the third consecutive month in terms of the biggest rental rate increase. The rents there for a one-bedroom apartment were up 6.5 percent last month to $817.

Closer to home, Philadelphia is now at number 20 on the nation's most expensive rental markets. The median one-bedroom rent will run you about $1,374. The news isn't all bad for us, though. While last month's rates were flat, this month the median rent was down 0.55 percent.

The dip doesn't put us on the map for biggest decreases, though. Rents in Norfolk, Virginia, were down 6 percent — the nation's biggest drop. The highest rental rates are mostly steady, too. It's still too expensive for the hoi polloi to live in San Francisco, New York, and San Jose.