New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix: Moving to America's 5 Most Populous Cities

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix are the five largest cities in the United States by population inside city limits, in that order, according to the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates for July 1, 2025. What a move to each one costs and demands differs for reasons you can check before you sign anything: how much a landlord may collect before you get the keys, how long the landlord has to return it, how fast the state expects your license or registration, and which months the weather works against a moving truck.

City	Population, July 1, 2025 (city limits)	Metro price level, 2024 (US = 100)	Metro housing rents, 2024 (US = 100)	Metro utilities, 2023 (US = 100)
New York City	8,584,629	112.6	148.6	130.0
Los Angeles	3,869,089	113.6	170.4	135.3
Chicago	2,731,585	103.6	112.0	77.7
Houston	2,397,315	98.6	104.5	95.1
Phoenix	1,665,481	103.3	121.2	83.0

The population column is the Census table above. The price columns are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities, which express a metro area’s price level as a percentage of the national level and describe the whole metro area, not the city alone. The price level and housing figures are for 2024, from the statistics BEA released on February 19, 2026, as published in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis table of metro price parities; the utilities figures are for 2023, from Table 4 of BEA’s December 2024 release, so the utilities column is a 2023 ranking set beside 2024 prices, not a same-year comparison of bills. Read them as a ranking of pressure, not as a budget: a housing figure of 170.4 for the Los Angeles metro says rents there ran well above the national level in 2024, and says nothing about the apartment you will be shown.

New York City: Legal Limits on the Deposit and Fees at Signing

A New York moving budget built on older advice may still plan for four checks at lease signing: first month, last month, a security deposit, and a broker fee. Outside the exceptions listed below, two of those four no longer fit the law.

New York General Obligations Law section 7-108 states: “No deposit or advance shall exceed the amount of one month’s rent.” The state Attorney General’s tenants’ rights guide spells out what that means at signing: “The one-month limit means that a landlord cannot ask for last month’s rent and a security deposit.” Section 7-108 itself lists exceptions, among them seasonal rentals, owner-occupied cooperative apartments, units under the rent control laws it names, and several senior and assisted-living housing types. For rent-stabilized apartments, the state housing agency’s Fact Sheet 9 states the same one-month limit and adds that a deposit or charge to reserve an apartment is unlawful; the fact sheet notes that such charges are “often referred to as” key money.

Section 7-108 also sets the clock for getting the money back. Within fourteen days after you vacate, the landlord must give you an itemized statement of anything kept and return the rest; a landlord who misses that deadline loses the right to keep any portion. The law also gives you a right to ask for an inspection before you leave, so you can fix listed problems before they turn into deductions. Fact Sheet 9 notes that changes effective November 15, 2025 extended these return, itemization, and inspection protections to rent-stabilized tenants as well.

The broker fee changed in 2025. The city’s consumer agency describes Local Law 119 of 2024, the FARE Act, as a rule that “prohibits landlords from passing on to prospective tenants the fees of landlords’ hired agents (brokers)” and requires landlords to disclose every fee a tenant must pay before the lease is signed. It took effect June 11, 2025. The law does not stop you from hiring your own broker and paying that broker yourself; what it ends is paying the landlord’s agent for listing the apartment you answered.

Two smaller numbers are also fixed by statute. Under Real Property Law section 238-a, a landlord may charge for a background and credit check only the actual cost or twenty dollars, whichever is less, and must waive the fee if you bring a background or credit check run within the past thirty days. If you are applying for several apartments in one trip, a single recent report can save you the fee at each one.

None of these rules says what income or credit a particular building will ask for; that screening is still the landlord’s. What they do limit are the specific charges they name: a security deposit of no more than one month’s rent, no last month’s rent on top of it in the cases the one-month limit covers, no fee for the landlord’s broker, and a screening charge of twenty dollars or less. They do not cap every cost of a move, such as the movers’ bill or charges outside these categories.

On the paperwork side, the New York DMV says you must exchange an out-of-state license within 30 days of becoming a resident, and that living in the state for 90 days is treated as “presumptive evidence” of residency. Students from other states who attend school in New York, the same page says, are normally not considered residents and do not need to exchange their license. If you plan to keep driving even without keeping a car in the city, that exchange belongs in your first month.

Los Angeles: Check the Building’s Age and the Deposit Rule

California changed its deposit limit on July 1, 2024. According to the Legal Resource Center at California State University, Long Beach, the rule after that date reads: “the limit is one month’s rent.” It replaced the earlier two-month limit for unfurnished units and three months for furnished ones. There is an exception: a landlord who is an individual, or an LLC whose members are all individuals, and who owns no more than two residential rental properties with no more than four units in total may still charge up to two months. The state law itself is Civil Code section 1950.5; if a landlord quotes a two-month deposit, the question to ask is whether that small-landlord exception applies.

At move-out, the California courts’ guide to security deposits says a landlord has 21 days to return the whole deposit or return it minus deductions along with an itemized statement that lists what was deducted and why. The $125 figure applies to the paperwork behind those deductions, not to the statement itself: “If the deductions are for more than $125.00, the landlord must attach a copy of any invoices or receipts with the itemized statement.” That timeline is useful to know at move-in, because it tells you how long to keep your move-in photos and the condition report.

Inside the City of Los Angeles, the age of the building matters. The Los Angeles Housing Department says a rental unit may be subject to the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, or RSO, “if the property was built on or before October 1, 1978” and that the RSO regulates rent increases and evictions. A single-family home that is the only home on its parcel is generally not covered, and most units built after that date are not either. The housing department’s site lets you check an address; doing so before you sign tells you whether future rent increases on that unit follow the city’s rules or only the lease and state law.

The price table above explains why the RSO question carries weight: the Los Angeles metro’s housing figure was 170.4 in 2024, the highest of the five metros in this guide. The RSO is a City of Los Angeles ordinance, and the housing department addresses it to people who rent in the City of Los Angeles, so an apartment elsewhere in the metro area falls under that city’s own rules and California law instead.

Chicago: Plan Around Winter and Keep the Move-Out Paperwork

For a Chicago move, winter is the season to plan around. The National Weather Service’s 1991 to 2020 normals for Chicago put average yearly snowfall at 38.4 inches, with 11.3 inches in January, 10.7 inches in February, and 7.6 inches in December. Those are averages, not forecasts, but they explain why a December to February move date needs a backup day for loading on icy streets.

Chicago’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance adds its own deposit rules for the rentals it covers, and not every rental is covered. The city’s ordinance page says it covers most rental properties in Chicago except units in owner-occupied buildings with six units or less; most units in hotels, motels and rooming houses; dormitories, shelters, employee’s quarters, and non-residential rental properties; and owner-occupied co-ops. If you are renting in a small building where the owner lives, ask the landlord which deposit rules apply, since the city rules below are written for covered units. For a covered rental, according to the City of Chicago Department of Housing, a landlord “must pay interest each year on security deposits and prepaid rent held more than six months” and must return the deposit and any required interest, minus unpaid rent and damage costs, within 45 days of the date you vacate. Before deducting for damage, the landlord must send an itemized statement of the damages within 30 days of your move-out. The interest rate is set each year by the City Comptroller, so the amount owed changes from year to year while the obligation stays. Ask for a receipt when you pay the deposit; the same page says the receipt must be signed by the person who accepts it.

The price table points to one more Chicago-specific line in the budget. Utilities in the Chicago metro priced at 77.7 against a national 100 in 2023, the lowest utilities figure of the five metros here, while housing rents were above the national level at 112.0 in 2024. A lease that includes heat takes the winter heating bill out of your hands, so ask which utilities are in the rent before comparing two apartments on rent alone.

Houston: Hurricane Season and the 30-Day Registration Clock

Houston is on the Gulf Coast, and the National Hurricane Center counts the Gulf as part of the Atlantic basin. It gives the official Atlantic season as June 1 to November 30 and says the peak falls on September 10, “with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.” For a move, that means two practical steps if your date falls in that window: ask your mover in writing what happens to a delivery date if a storm closes roads, and avoid having your goods sit in a storage stop longer than needed during those weeks.

Texas gives new residents a short window for the car. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles says, “You have 30 days from the time you move here to register your vehicle in the state.” If you are driving your own car to Houston, the registration visit is a first-month task, not a someday task.

The Texas deposit rule turns on a detail that is easy to miss at move-out. The Texas State Law Library summarizes Property Code section 92.103 as requiring a landlord to refund a deposit within 30 days of the tenant vacating, and notes that the landlord “is not obligated to return a tenant’s security deposit or give the tenant a written description of damages and charges until the tenant gives the landlord a written statement of the tenant’s forwarding address for the purpose of refunding the security deposit.” Not giving that address does not cost you the right to the refund, the library adds, but until you give it the landlord’s duty to send the refund and the list of deductions does not begin. When you move into a Houston apartment, put a reminder on the calendar for the day you leave it: give the landlord your forwarding address in writing.

Houston’s metro figures in the table, 98.6 overall and 104.5 for housing rents in 2024, sit closest to the national level of the five. A metro average says nothing about a specific street, so a Houston address still needs its own check before you commit to it.

Phoenix: The Heat Calendar Comes First

For Phoenix, the moving date decision starts with temperature records. The National Weather Service office in Phoenix lists the 1991 to 2020 average first day at 100 degrees Fahrenheit as May 2 and the average last day as October 5. The average first 110-degree day is June 11, the average last is August 26, and the latest 110-degree day on record came on October 7, 2024. A truck loaded or unloaded between early May and early October is working in the season when 100-degree days are normal.

That calendar is the reason to ask for an early-morning loading and delivery slot if your date falls between May and October, and to decide in advance which heat-sensitive belongings travel with you rather than in a closed trailer.

Arizona’s deposit rule sits between New York’s and the old California limit. Arizona Revised Statutes section 33-1321 says a landlord shall not demand or receive security, including prepaid rent, of more than one and one-half month’s rent. Any fee or deposit the landlord does not designate in writing as nonrefundable is refundable. At move-out, the landlord’s 14-day clock, which excludes weekends and legal holidays, starts after the tenancy ends, you hand over possession, and you demand the deposit. The statute also requires the landlord to give you a move-in form for listing existing damage, so fill it in completely on day one.

Phoenix’s metro housing figure was 121.2 in 2024, while utilities stood at 83.0 in 2023. Summer cooling is the reason to ask a Phoenix landlord how the unit is cooled and whether the lease assigns air-conditioning repairs to the landlord.

Moving Between States: The Federal Rules Every Interstate Mover Must Follow

A move into any of these cities from another state is an interstate move, and a household goods mover crossing state lines works under federal rules in 49 CFR Part 375. Four points from those rules shape what you should ask for in writing.

First, the paperwork. Under 49 CFR 375.213, when a mover gives you a written estimate it must also give you two federal publications, either as copies or as a link to them on the FMCSA website: the booklet titled Ready to Move? and the booklet titled Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move. If you choose to read them online, the same section requires the mover to obtain a signed, dated receipt showing that you received them and agreed to access them on the internet. Before you sign a bill of lading, the mover must also give you four documents: an estimate of its charges, a notice that the applicable parts of its tariff are available, a summary of its arbitration program, and a summary of how it handles complaints and inquiries, including its main telephone number.

Second, the type of estimate. A binding estimate, under 49 CFR 375.403, must be in writing and fixes the price for the services it lists; the regulation adds that the charges apply only to the services specifically identified on it, so a service added later is not covered by that price, and the collect-on-delivery rule described below adds the same two exceptions to a binding estimate. A non-binding estimate works differently. The federal rights booklet in Appendix A to Part 375 says: “Under a non-binding estimate, the mover cannot require you to pay more than 110 percent of the non-binding estimate at the time of delivery.” The next sentence adds that this “does not excuse you from paying all the charges due on your shipment” and the booklet says the mover will bill any remaining charges after 30 days from delivery.

Third, the arithmetic of that 110 percent rule, and its limits. For example, on a hypothetical non-binding estimate of $4,000, 110 percent comes to $4,400 for the services on that estimate; the same booklet says the mover must give you possession of your shipment once you pay the amount due at delivery, and any remaining charges come later as a bill. The regulation on the maximum collect-on-delivery amount adds two things the mover may collect on top of the 110 percent: charges for any additional services you requested after the bill of lading was issued, and, if its tariff defines them, charges for impracticable operations, which are capped at 15 percent of all other charges due at delivery. So $4,400 is the delivery ceiling only if you added no services after the bill of lading and no impracticable-operations charge applies. Knowing the number, and what could be added to it, before delivery day is what lets you pay it and get your goods off the truck.

Fourth, who you are dealing with, and what to do if something arrives damaged. The same booklet defines a broker as a company that arranges for the transportation of household goods by a registered moving company, and says you should avoid brokers and movers that are not registered with FMCSA. If an item is lost or damaged, it says: “You have 9 months from the date of delivery (or in the event of loss for the entire shipment, from the date your shipment should have been delivered) to file your claim.” The claim must be in writing, to the mover or to the mover’s third-party insurer.

How to Choose Among the Five

Pick the constraint that binds you first, then read the matching section again. If cash at lease signing is the limit, New York’s one-month cap and the FARE Act limit the deposit and the broker fee you can be asked for at signing, while Arizona allows a deposit of up to one and a half months. If the move date is fixed in late summer, Houston’s hurricane peak and Phoenix’s heat season are the two calendars to check. If keeping a car is part of the plan, Texas expects registration within 30 days and New York expects a license exchange within 30 days of residency. And if your next move out of the apartment matters as much as the move in, note the deposit clocks now: 14 days in New York, 21 days in California, 45 days in Chicago, 30 days after a written forwarding address in Texas, and 14 business days after your demand in Arizona.