Best Places to Buy Rental Property in New York (2026)

Start with Elmira. It is the lowest entry price on this list, $109,000 at the median, and its $1,250 median asking rent turns that into 13.8 percent gross, the best return the state's measurable cities offer. Niagara Falls follows at 11.8 percent, on a $122,000 median price and $1,200 in asking rent. Volume and yield part ways: New York City closes about 4185 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks eleventh on yield at 7.9 percent. For one of these cities the page also shows a confirmed-close median; in New York City, 623 confirmed lease closes carry a median of $6,000 against a $5,600 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so the gap describes the samples, not the same homes. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $264,500 here against $540,000 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 41 New York cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. Six more cities clear the closings bar but not the rental one and appear in a second table with entry price only.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Elmira, 13.8 percent gross

Read Elmira's $1,250 rent as an apartment figure: 67 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,600. At $109,000 to buy and $1,250 a month to rent, Elmira yields 13.8 percent gross on 161 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $60 per square foot. Full detail is on the Elmira market page.

2. Niagara Falls, 11.8 percent gross

Homes in Niagara Falls closed at a median of $122,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,200, a gross yield of 11.8 percent. Full detail is on the Niagara Falls market page.

3. Binghamton, 11.6 percent gross

Binghamton's rental sample is 65 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,500 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $3,000. Homes in Binghamton closed at a median of $155,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 11.6 percent. See the Binghamton page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Syracuse, 11.0 percent gross

Syracuse's rental sample is 65 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,650 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $2,100. The numbers: $180,000 median closed price across 639 closings, $1,650 median asking rent across 2,119 listings, 11.0 percent gross. See the Syracuse page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Rochester, 10.8 percent gross

Homes in Rochester went under contract in a median of 10 days, so a buyer chasing its 10.8 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. The numbers: $180,000 median closed price across 1,045 closings, $1,619 median asking rent across 3,719 listings, 10.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $113 per square foot. Full detail is on the Rochester market page.

6. Queens, 10.0 percent gross

Queens ranks sixth on yield but only thirteenth on entry price: the $2,700 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Queens closed at a median of $323,740 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,700, a gross yield of 10.0 percent. Houses there closed at about $390 per square foot. See the Queens page for the property mix and the price band.

7. Buffalo, 8.6 percent gross

Read Buffalo's $1,475 rent as an apartment figure: 77 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,962. At $205,000 to buy and $1,475 a month to rent, Buffalo yields 8.6 percent gross on 1,158 tracked closings. The Buffalo market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Troy, 8.1 percent gross

Read Troy's $1,550 rent as an apartment figure: 84 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,000. Homes in Troy closed at a median of $230,250 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,550, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. Full detail is on the Troy market page.

9. Middletown, 8.0 percent gross

Rent is what puts Middletown ninth here; on price alone it would sit fourteenth of 20. At $347,475 to buy and $2,327 a month to rent, Middletown yields 8.0 percent gross on 262 tracked closings. The Middletown market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Newburgh, 8.0 percent gross

Read Newburgh's $2,000 rent as an apartment figure: 68 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,500. At $300,000 to buy and $2,000 a month to rent, Newburgh yields 8.0 percent gross on 185 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $185 per square foot. See the Newburgh page for the property mix and the price band.

11. New York City, 7.9 percent gross

New York City is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 623 closes with a median of $6,000 beside a $5,600 asking median, a 7 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. Homes in New York City closed at a median of $850,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $5,600, a gross yield of 7.9 percent. Full detail is on the New York City market page.

12. Schenectady, 7.9 percent gross

Read Schenectady's $1,600 rent as an apartment figure: 77 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,175. The numbers: $244,000 median closed price across 333 closings, $1,600 median asking rent across 729 listings, 7.9 percent gross. The Schenectady market page carries the monthly figures.

13. Tonawanda, 7.5 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Tonawanda far: it is eighth cheapest on this list and thirteenth on yield, with rent of $1,395 against a $224,000 median price. Homes in Tonawanda closed at a median of $224,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,395, a gross yield of 7.5 percent. Houses there closed at about $167 per square foot. See the Tonawanda page for the property mix and the price band.

14. Forest Hills, 7.2 percent gross

Forest Hills ranks fourteenth on yield but only eighteenth on entry price: the $3,200 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $535,000 median closed price across 406 closings, $3,200 median asking rent across 414 listings, 7.2 percent gross. Full detail is on the Forest Hills market page.

15. Lancaster, 7.2 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Lancaster far: it is eleventh cheapest on this list and fifteenth on yield, with rent of $1,700 against a $285,000 median price. The numbers: $285,000 median closed price across 104 closings, $1,700 median asking rent across 51 listings, 7.2 percent gross. The Lancaster market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Poughkeepsie, 7.1 percent gross

Read Poughkeepsie's $2,100 rent as an apartment figure: 74 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $2,600. The numbers: $357,250 median closed price across 310 closings, $2,100 median asking rent across 1,005 listings, 7.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $210 per square foot. See the Poughkeepsie page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Lockport, 7.0 percent gross

Lockport is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fourth on price, seventeenth on yield, because a $180,000 home there rents for only $1,050. The numbers: $180,000 median closed price across 319 closings, $1,050 median asking rent across 190 listings, 7.0 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $113 per square foot. The Lockport market page carries the monthly figures.

18. Levittown, 6.9 percent gross

At $745,000 to buy and $4,300 a month to rent, Levittown yields 6.9 percent gross on 205 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $468 per square foot. Full detail is on the Levittown market page.

19. Amherst, 6.8 percent gross

Amherst is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifteenth on price, nineteenth on yield, because a $354,000 home there rents for only $2,000. The numbers: $354,000 median closed price across 391 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 87 listings, 6.8 percent gross. The Amherst market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Ithaca, 6.8 percent gross

Ithaca's rental sample is 77 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $2,182 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $2,525. The numbers: $387,000 median closed price across 152 closings, $2,182 median asking rent across 1,288 listings, 6.8 percent gross. See the Ithaca page for the property mix and the price band.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

These cities cleared 100 tracked closings but fewer than 50 rental listings carried their name in the last twelve months, so no yield is printed for them.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every New York city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 41 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $540,000 across 78,607 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More New York rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in New York ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the New York cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The New York housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest New York markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.