SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Brandon Wright spent three months searching for an apartment he could afford. The 24-year-old sent a video tour of his new home after scouring Facebook, Zillow, and apartments.com.

“I started looking on Facebook, on Zillow, on apartments.com, everywhere, and just had been unable to find anything that was within my price range,” Wright said. “It was just very difficult.”

Wright is not alone. Many young adults simply can’t afford rent in western Massachusetts. The median yearly income for people younger than 25 in Hampden County is $42,349. The standard advice is to not spend more than 30 percent of salary on rent which, in this example, means $1,176 per month. The problem is the standard one bedroom in the Springfield area starts around $1,300 per month. A search on apartments.com, using a price filter at or under $1,176, returned 14 apartments. Six of them were for a single bedroom in a shared house with criteria like ‘bring your own minifridge.’

“A one bedroom with a kitchen, nice open living room. That’s all,” Wright said. “So really simple criteria. Yeah, and even that has been hard to find for around $1,100. It’s really, really hard.”

Adding a second filter for a 30-minute or less commute to Springfield, where many of the area’s jobs are located, reduced the options from 14 to eight. However, even that drive, like Wright’s 25-minute commute from his apartment, comes with a hidden cost. “I’m filling up my tank probably twice a week. It’s probably like $140 a week at least. It’s a lot,” Wright explained.

A third filter for safety, using crimegrade.org data from the FBI and local police to find cities with a passing score in violent crime, knocked out every city except East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, Agawam, Wilbraham, Ludlow and Hampden. That left just three options: a 13-by-13 single room in Ludlow with three shared bathrooms between 14 units for $700, a Northampton studio for $1,050 plus utilities and fees, and a 400-square-foot one-bedroom in Southwick for $1,100 plus utilities.

Even when affordable units exist, renters face additional obstacles. “The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the stipulations to rent. A lot of renters are asking that you are able to prove that you make three times the monthly rent,” Wright said. “I work as a bartender. A lot of it’s cash tips and that doesn’t get recorded.”

According to the U.S. Census, in 1980, the average rent in Massachusetts was $255. Adjusted for inflation, that would be just over $1,000 in 2026. However, that same apartment would now go for just under $1,400. “It’s a lot more difficult than it used to be in the past. The barrier of entry is a lot higher than it used to be,” Wright said.

This year alone, rent has already increased by 2.5 percent in Springfield. That’s 45 percent more expensive than 10 years ago and there’s not enough to go around. A 2025 UMass housing study found western Massachusetts needs 23,000 new units to meet current demand.

It’s a whole different market than when Wright’s father was his age. His starter was owning a home. “And he was able to rent out half of it and like make income off of that,” Wright explained. “So it’s just different landscape now.”

In 2024, Governor Maura Healey gave western Massachusetts $24 million in one stop awards, which are public development grants. She then bumped up those grants to $42.9 million last year. The deadline to apply for the next round is June 3.

However, as of now, Wright said it’s not enough. “I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but it’s extremely difficult,” Wright said when asked how difficult it is to find an apartment on a 24-year-old salary.

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