Back in 2019, Caleb McCool, a lifelong resident of the Chattanooga area, rented a one-bedroom apartment in Red Bank for $650 a month, a rate he found affordable at his income.
Two years later, an out-of-state developer upped McCool’s monthly rent to $1,000.
“It was bought out by somebody out West,” said McCool, 25, in a phone interview. “They didn’t even remodel it.”
McCool’s experience is far from unique. In 2022, Hamilton County saw the largest annual rent increase in the past decade, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Within Chattanooga, the annual median rent increased from $855 in 2010 to $1,300 in 2022, a 52% increase.