Apartments for Rent in Rochester, MN

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• How many apartments for rent are available in Rochester, MN right now?

  Roomster lists 2 apartments for rent around Rochester, across Downtown, Kutzky Park, Historic Southwest, Northwest Rochester, and the areas near the Mayo and St. Marys campuses. Rochester is a growing, majority-owner city - roughly 35 percent of households rent - and demand runs on the Mayo calendar rather than a school-year one, so availability opens up steadily as residents, fellows, and contract staff rotate through. The city has grown almost 6 percent since 2019, one of the faster-growing metros in the state, which keeps the rental market tighter than the ownership share suggests.

• How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Rochester, MN?

  Expect roughly $1,245 for a studio, $1,395 for a one-bedroom, and $1,495 for a two-bedroom, with three-bedrooms near $1,900. You can find one-bedrooms under $1,300 a month in Folwell, Northwest Rochester, and parts of Slatterly Park, while the newer downtown buildings near Mayo sit at the top. That puts Rochester at roughly the national average and broadly in line with Minneapolis and St. Paul rather than dramatically cheaper. On the trend, be honest: the surveys disagree, with some showing rents easing slightly and others showing them up, so treat the market as roughly flat rather than clearly moving one way.

• What are the most affordable areas to rent in Rochester, MN?

  Folwell, Slatterly Park, and Northwest Rochester generally price below the downtown core, where proximity to Mayo carries a premium. The blocks right around the downtown and St. Marys campuses cost the most because travel healthcare staff will pay for a walk to work. Moving a little further out - toward Meadow Park, Homestead, or Bamber Valley - trades walkability for space and a lower rent, and you will want a car out there. If your commute is to the Mayo downtown campus, the free Link bus rapid transit line opening around the end of 2026 will widen how far out you can reasonably live.

• Is downtown Rochester walkable, and what is the commute like?

  Downtown is genuinely walkable, unusually so for a Midwestern city its size, because it is built around the Mayo Clinic campus and connected by an indoor skyway and subway system that keeps you out of the winter weather. Rochester Public Transit runs the buses, and the new Link bus rapid transit line along 2nd Street - free, opening around the end of 2026 - will connect downtown, the Mayo campuses, the university center, and Cascade Lake. Beyond the core it is a driving city on US-52, US-14, and Highway 63. The Twin Cities sit about 85 miles north, roughly 90 minutes up US-52, which some people commute but most do not.

• Is there rent control in Rochester, MN?

  No. Rochester has no rent stabilization ordinance, and neither does Olmsted County. Minnesota law bars a city or county from adopting rent control unless voters approve it at a general election, and only St. Paul has done so statewide - Rochester has taken no such step. What does apply is Minnesota's tenant law, which the state strengthened in 2024: landlords must now list every non-optional fee on the first page of the lease and give 14 days written notice before filing an eviction for nonpayment. On deposits, Minnesota sets no cap but requires return within 21 days with 1 percent annual interest and itemized deductions.

• What deposit and fees should I expect in Rochester, MN?

  Minnesota does not cap security deposits, so compare the deposit alongside the rent when you weigh two places. The protections are on the back end: the landlord must return your deposit within 21 days of the lease ending, add 1 percent annual interest, and itemize anything withheld, or face a bad-faith penalty. Since 2024, all mandatory fees have to appear on page one of the lease, so a place cannot spring a surprise monthly charge on you later. Ask what is included - in a market with this much furnished, medical-stay stock, utilities and furniture are bundled far more often than in a typical city.