Fort Worth draws a renter base that's diverse: military families cycling through Naval Air Station Fort Worth, corporate transplants following American Airlines, BNSF, and Lockheed Martin, and a growing wave of arrivals from Austin and California who want Dallas-Fort Worth access without Dallas prices. This report breaks down where rents stand in May 2026, what's behind the year-over-year softening, and what the numbers mean if you own rental property here.
1. Fort Worth Rental Market Snapshot — May 2026
Here's where Fort Worth rents stand as of May 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.
Fort Worth's median rent sits at $1,419 in May 2026, down 8.27% year-over-year and essentially flat month-over-month (-0.37%), with homes leasing in 22 days on average — a market that's cooling but still moving, which means landlords who price accurately at the start won't be waiting long for a qualified tenant.
| Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Median Rent (All Types) | $1,419 | -0.4% MoM |
| Avg. Days on Market | 22 days | — |
| Rent Growth YoY | -8.3% | — |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, May 2026.
2. Fort Worth Rent by Bedroom Size — May 2026
Three-bedroom single-family rentals are averaging $2,190 per month in Fort Worth, while four-bedrooms come in at $2,545 and two-bedrooms at $1,691. That $499 jump from a 2BR to a 3BR reflects real demand from the family-focused renters who gravitate toward neighborhoods like Tanglewood, where school quality and trail access are draws. If you own a smaller two-bedroom, the more affordable pockets (Arlington Heights around $1,331 per month, North Side around $1,300) give you a realistic anchor for where the market will pull your price.
| Bedrooms | SFR Median Rent |
|---|---|
| 2-Bedroom | $1,691 |
| 3-Bedroom | $2,190 |
| 4-Bedroom | $2,545 |
| Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings single-family properties, May 2026. |
What's Driving Rental Conditions in Fort Worth
Fort Worth Rental Supply & New Construction
Fort Worth's supply picture is mixed right now. Single-family and overall residential permits held roughly flat, dipping just 1% from 5,986 in 2024 to 5,950 in 2025, but multifamily permits cratered 43% to only 146 units after a new state law shifted high-density approval authority away from cities and toward developers. The build-to-rent sector is the story to watch: Fort Worth leads BTR growth across the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metro with more than 1,800 rental homes under construction, and the $1.7 billion Westside Village project broke ground in 2026 about two miles west of downtown, eventually delivering 1,785 residential units plus nearly a million square feet of office space.
Why People Rent in Fort Worth
Fort Worth keeps pulling in new residents at a serious clip, adding more than 18,000 people in 2025 alone, while the broader North Texas metro posted the second-largest population increase in the country between July 2024 and July 2025. A lot of those newcomers are arriving via corporate relocations, military transfers from Naval Air Station Fort Worth, and a wave of transplants from Austin and California, all drawn by major employers like Lockheed Martin, American Airlines, BNSF Railway, Bell Textron, and TPG Global. Homeownership is increasingly out of reach for many of them: median single-family home prices are roughly 40% above 2019 levels versus just 16% cumulative rent growth over the same period, which keeps rental demand structurally supported even as rents slide — the blended median is down 8.27% year-over-year, and the job market shows some softness in professional and business services, where hiring is down about 2.8% year-over-year.
Fort Worth Rental Market Outlook
Rents are under real pressure. The blended median sits at $1,419, down 8.27% year-over-year and another 0.37% month-over-month in May 2026, with more than 100 active listings and an average of 22 days on market. Landlords should price competitively from day one rather than testing the top of the range and cutting later, because units priced above current market are sitting while well-priced ones are still moving at a reasonable pace. The BTR pipeline and Westside Village will add more inventory over the next few years, so conditions are unlikely to tighten quickly, prioritize filling vacancies over chasing last year's rents.
3. How Fort Worth Compares to Dallas and Arlington
Fort Worth's blended median rent of $1,419 runs 31.7% below Dallas ($2,077) and 44.8% below Arlington ($2,570), a gap that reflects both different renter profiles and different inventory dynamics. On three-bedroom single-family homes specifically, Fort Worth at $2,190 is dramatically below Dallas at $4,282, partly because Dallas's tighter urban core and higher-income employment base (corporate headquarters, finance, tech) push 3BR demand into premium territory, while Arlington's 3BR figure of $2,555 is closer to Fort Worth's, driven by a more similar suburban, employer-anchored renter mix. The practical upside for Fort Worth landlords: homes here are leasing in 22 days, compared to 29 in Dallas and 44 in Arlington, so while you're leaving some rent on the table versus those markets, you're also losing far less to vacancy.
| City | Median Rent (All Types) | 3BR SFR Rent | Avg. Days on Market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Worth | $1,419 | $2,190 | 22 days |
| Dallas | $2,077 | $4,282 | 29 days |
| Arlington | $2,570 | $2,555 | 44 days |
Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, May 2026.
4. Fort Worth Single-Family Rental — What Landlords Need to Know
Single-Family Rental Conditions in Fort Worth
How Fort Worth Single-Family Rents Compare to Apartments
The blended median rent in Fort Worth sits at $1,419, and the SFR median lands at exactly the same figure. Single-family homes make up such a large share of Fort Worth's rental stock that they pull the all-type median toward their own price point, so the real comparison is at the 3-bedroom level: SFR 3BRs and blended 3BRs both come in at $2,190, which tells you apartments and houses are competing hard for the same renter dollar in this market. At 22 days on market, well-priced SFRs are moving at the same pace as the broader market, so there's no DOM cushion for landlords who overprice.
Where Single-Family Demand Concentrates in Fort Worth
Fort Worth's SFR demand clusters around employment corridors and lifestyle neighborhoods in ways that are specific to this city's geography. Tanglewood pulls family-focused renters who want access to Tanglewood Elementary and Trinity Trails, while West 7th, the stretch between Downtown and the Cultural District, draws young professionals relocating for jobs at American Airlines, BNSF Railway, Lockheed Martin, and Bell Textron. Fort Worth also runs on military and corporate transfer demand: Naval Air Station Fort Worth generates a consistent pipeline of renters, and the city absorbed more than 18,000 new residents in 2025 alone, many of them transplants from Austin and California arriving for roles in logistics, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing.
How to Price Your Fort Worth Rental Home Right Now
For a 3-bedroom SFR in Fort Worth right now, the target range is $2,081–$2,300 (within 5% of the $2,190 median), and you want to land inside that window on day one. The market ceiling for a 3BR sits at $2,400, and listings priced above that face real resistance in a city where apartment-to-house pricing is essentially flat and renters have options. Fort Worth added population at a record pace in 2025, but rents have still pulled back, down 8.27% year-over-year, and some hiring has softened in professional services (down about 2.8% year-over-year), which means the days of pricing aggressively above market and waiting for the right tenant are over. The actionable move right now: price at or just below $2,190 to generate competing applications in the first week, then evaluate the applicant pool before considering concessions rather than starting high and chasing the market
Data Sources & Methodology
- Rental market data: Median rents, days on market, listing counts, and rent change figures. Sourced from county public records, deed and tax assessor data, and rental listings on publicly accessible platforms.
- Doorstead Platform Data: Internal leasing outcomes from Doorstead-managed single-family homes — days to lease, pricing tier benchmarks. Plano, TX, trailing 12 months.