The 25 best places to live in the US if you're a renter

Sean Pavone/Business Insider

The best places for renting depend on more than just rent costs.

• Renters have more than high rent costs to think about when finding a place to live.
• SmartAsset recently released a report on the best places to live in the US for renters based on seven metrics, from unemployment rate to average commute time.
• The Midwest is a great area for renters - four cities made it into the top 10.

In a time when the cost of rent is so high that a minimum-wage worker needs 2.5 full-time jobs to afford rent for a one-bedroom apartment in most of the US, finding an affordable place to live can seem like an endless game.

But renters, who spent a record amount of money on housing in 2017, don't have just costs to worry about - they also need to look at factors like distance to work and safety.

SmartAsset took all of this into consideration in its recent report on the best cities for renters. They looked at data for 96 cities, comparing them across seven different metrics: rent-to-income ratio, percent of housing stock dedicated to renting, eviction rate, density of entertainment establishments, crime rate, unemployment rate, and average commute time.

SmartAsset ranked each city in every metric, then weighted all metrics equally to calculate each city's average ranking, which determined the final list.

Turns out, the Midwest is a great area for renters, with four cities making the top 10.

Below, see the best 25 places to live for renters, ranked. All rent prices are sourced from Zillow and are the median for all rentals in the metro area.