With a rent budget of $1,500, choosing the right city in the Phoenix metro area could mean up to 180 square feet more (or less) of apartment space. While smaller cities typically offer the most space, Mesa and Tempe stand out by bucking the trend. Meanwhile, Scottsdale is the only city that offers less space than the national average. Overall, none of the cities in the Valley offer renters more than 900 square feet of apartment space for $1,500. 

Here are the details: 

  • If space is a priority, look at the West Valley, where you get the most space for $1,500: Peoria leads with 874 square feet, and Surprise and Glendale follow with 865 square feet.  
     
  • Mesa, although the biggest city in the East Valley, is also the one that offers the most apartment space for $1,500: 845 square feet. Chandler and Gilbert, half the size of Mesa, offer 20 square feet less.  
     
  • Tempe ranks second to last in the Phoenix metro area with 725 square feet, while in Scottsdale, $1,500 is not even enough for 700 square feet. Here, this rent budget gets you 692 square feet. 
     
  • In Phoenix, $1,500 can get you 817 square feet, 102 square feet more than the national average.

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Nationally, Midwestern and Sunbelt cities offer the most apartment space for a monthly rent of $1,500. To help renters make the best decisions in the moving season, we continue our annual tradition of highlighting the U.S. cities where they can get the most apartment space for a monthly rent of $1,500. In total, we ranked the nation’s 200 largest cities using apartment data from Yardi Matrix as of March 2025.

Key national takeaways:

  • Wichita, KS, leads large U.S. cities where renters can get the most apartment space for a monthly rent of $1,500 with 1,329 square feet.
  • In coastal hubs Manhattan, NY; Brooklyn, NY; and Boston, renters can’t get a studio for that amount.
  • Small cities in Texas and Georgia rank highly for generous and affordable apartment space by offering roughly 1,300 square feet for $1,500 per month.
  • California dominates the list of small cities with the least square footage for $1,500 with Silicon Valley’s Sunnyvale at the top.