Pet-Friendly Apartments and Cities

March 14th, 2008 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Renting with Pets | No Comments »

At MyNewPlace, we understand how difficult it can be to rent a pet-friendly apartment. Renters with pets often have a much more difficult time finding an apartment that accommodates all of their human and animal needs. Apartment owners tend to be concerned with the depreciation and liabilities that are associated with keeping pets in apartments, decreasing the supply of pet-friendly apartments and making that market more competitive.

To help renters with pets, our apartment search includes the option to look for apartments that allow cats, dogs or both. Simply select the appropriate pet setting on the icon at the top of the search screen to filter your search results. The individual property pages give more details about that apartment’s pet policy.

We searched our top 50 cities about 49% of apartments displayed are pet-friendly. We wanted to see if the city in which you searched played a role in the percentage of pet-friendly apartments.

Thus, we wanted to compare our internal data with some outside sources to see how everything stacks up. Are some cities more inherently pet-friendly and if so, does this atmosphere beget a detente between apartment owners and our mostly adorable animal friends?

We ran across an article in Forbes Magazine that listed the top ten most pet-friendly cities in the United States. They calculated their list from an impressively comprehensive list of factors including public park acreage, the number of pet-oriented businesses, and the number and cost of veterinary facilities. They then compared this data with the number of people and pets in each city.

Below are the MyNewPlace percentages of pet-friendly apartments in each city and their corresponding rank according to to Forbes.

1. 46.9%-Colorado Springs, CO
2. 37.2%-Portland, OR
3. 21.5%-Albuquerque, NM
4. 63.9%-Austin, TX
5. 59.3%-Charlotte, NC
6. 51.2%-Virginia Beach, VA
7. 27.3%-Kansas City, MO
8. 52.6%-St. Louis, MO
9. 52.5%-Seattle, WA
10. 57.0%-Denver, CO

So it looks as though 6 of the 10 most pet-friendly cities are also above the average on pet-friendly apartments. It looks as though apartments in Albuquerque and Kansas City, however are not quite keeping pace with the friendliness for which their respective cities are so notable.

We are glad to provide pet owners with a great online resource to rent an apartment with their pet. We understand that not everyone can buy a house and we certainly don’t think that you should ever have to sacrifice your love for your pet for your love of your apartment.

Has anyone had problems finding pet-friendly apartments? Have you had difficulty with the size or breed of your dog? Consult our Tips for Renting with your Pet article in our forthcoming apartment guide and let us know about your personal experiences.