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Rents in Mountain View have declined from a year ago but are still some of the most expensive in the Bay Area, according to a recent trade report.
The analysis from Zumper, an online rental search marketplace, found that the median asking price for one-bedroom apartments in Mountain View was $3,240 last month, while the price for two-bedroom rentals was $4,050. In California, the median asking price for a one-bedroom rental was $2,046.
Mountain View ranks as the second most expensive city for one-bedroom rentals in the Bay Area, just behind San Francisco, according to the report. Asking prices in Mountain View are still high but not as high as a year ago when a one-bedroom peaked at $3,830 in October 2024, Zumper spokesperson Crystal Chen said.
“A rent price ceiling was probably hit last year that people were willing to pay before they looked elsewhere for more affordability,” Chen said.
The median asking price in Mountain View has declined about 12% from a year ago for one and two-bedroom rentals. This represents the largest decline of the 22 cities listed in the report.
Rents are basically on par with what was seen before the pandemic and likely signal a stabilization in the market, Chen said. The pre-pandemic rate for one-bedrooms was $3,200 in February 2020, according to Zumper. Rents quickly dropped and hit a low of $2,200 in early 2021 but then steadily climbed before prices peaked last year. Chen attributed some of the flux to the tech industry and return-to-office work policies.
“It looks a little crazy, but I think it’s more so that the post-pandemic surges made rents just a lot more volatile, and now it seems they’ve stabilized a bit,” she said.
Chen noted that the Zumper report is a snapshot of listing prices and does not provide data on what people are actually paying.
The city of Mountain View also posts annual reports with information about average rents in the city. Most of Mountain View’s rental stock consists of older units built before 1995, which are typically covered by the city’s rent control law.
According to a 2024-2025 fiscal year report, the average rent for a rent-stabilized unit was $2,894. For a one-bedroom, it was $2,538; and for a two-bedroom, it was $3,343. For newly built units, which aren’t covered by rent control, the average was $4,388.
Chen also noted some of the older apartments might not show up on Zumper even though the company aggregates more than a million listings each month. Oftentimes, “mom and pop shops” will use Craigslist or Facebook marketplace, she said.
Still, the takeaway message is that rents seem to have stabilized in Mountain View after declining from last year. “I don’t expect to see any crazy spikes in the next six months at least,” Chen said.
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Rents are going down! We can stop building.
Meanwhile, health insurance monthly premiums are catching up on these monthly rents (21% hike for us).