Rent Cap Checker by State

How rent caps work in the U.S.

Rent regulation in America is a patchwork. About half the states ban local rent control outright through preemption statutes — in those states, no city or county can cap rents on private property, period. A handful of states impose a statewide cap (California, Oregon, and Washington all tie annual increases to inflation with a hard ceiling). And in a few states with no ban and no statewide cap — New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, Maine — individual cities have passed their own ordinances. Everywhere else, there is simply no rent cap on the books.

What does "preemption" mean?

Preemption is a state law that takes the question off the table for cities: it declares rent control a matter of statewide concern and forbids local governments from regulating rents on private property. Twenty-six states do this. The bans usually carve out property the government itself owns and voluntary affordable-housing agreements. Texas is a special case: cities may impose rent control only during a governor-approved disaster housing emergency.

Why do so many caps have exemptions?

Almost every rent-cap regime exempts newer construction (typically buildings less than 12–15 years old) to avoid discouraging new housing, plus single-family homes, owner-occupied small buildings, and subsidized or deed-restricted housing. California's and Oregon's statewide caps also include a rolling exemption — a building ages out of exemption after 15 years (California) or 12 years (Washington), which means a property can move in and out of coverage over time.

How is the cap actually calculated?

Most modern caps are inflation-linked formulas with a ceiling: California allows 5% plus the regional CPI change, capped at 10%; Oregon allows 7% plus CPI, capped at 10%; Washington allows 7% plus CPI, capped at 10%. Cities with older ordinances often use a flat percentage or the CPI alone — Newark caps increases at the lower of CPI or 4%; Saint Paul uses a flat 3%. The published annual figure changes every year, so always check the current number with the administering agency.

Does rent control apply between tenancies?

It depends. Some ordinances (like California's Costa-Hawkins framework) allow vacancy decontrol — the landlord can reset to market rent when a tenant leaves voluntarily. Others restrict even vacancy increases: Saint Paul's 2021 ordinance initially limited increases between tenancies too, though later amendments changed the vacancy rules. This is one of the details that varies most, so verify locally.

How this data was compiled

Every figure in this tool was researched from primary sources: the text of state statutes (via official legislature websites) and official city or county ordinance pages. Each number carries its citation. Where a figure could not be verified from a primary source, it is marked "verify locally" rather than guessed. A city appears in the dropdown only if its ordinance was confirmed from an official municipal source. Statutes are amended regularly — if a citation looks stale, check your legislature's current code before relying on it. A full source list is published alongside this tool.