The 5 Most Welcoming Cities for Renters with Pets, According to Zillow

If you’re a pet parent, you’ll do anything for your furry (or feathered or finned) friend. But would your animal companion influence which part of the country you’d choose to live in?

A recent report from real estate resource Zillow examines which cities may be the most welcoming to pets. As renters with pets know, finding a pet-friendly apartment or rental home can sometimes be tricky or limit the scope of your search. But some cities stand well above (and well below) the rest when it comes to rental listings that roll out the welcome mat for pets.

What are the best cities for pet-friendly rentals?

According to the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, the top five cities with the most pet-friendly rental listings are all located in the South and West.

Charlotte leads the pack with 91.6% of Zillow rentals allowing pets, followed by Austin (91.5%), Denver (91.5%), Dallas (90.6%) and Nashville (90.4%). (The national average is 77%.) Zillow attributes part of this geographic trend to the fact that in these regions “newer, larger apartment communities have made pet-friendly policies standard.”

It should be noted that these findings are based on how many rental listings on Zillow allow pets and may not reflect the entire rental market of a given metropolitan area. That said, a Zillow representative shared with HGTV that Zillow currently hosts an average of 2.7 million active rental listings in a given month, with 36 million active users per month.

What are the worst major cities for pet-friendly rentals?

While “worst” is a subjective term, perhaps unsurprisingly, the five major cities of the top 50 metropolitan areas in the U.S. where pet owners will have a harder time renting are located in some of the country’s most competitive rental markets.

San Francisco came in 45th on the list, with only 64.2% of Zillow listings allowing pets. Moving down from there are Hartford, CT at 63.3%, Boston at 62.5%, Buffalo at 62.2% and New York second-to-last at 61.4%. However, jumping another seven points below New York is Providence in 50th place at just 54.3% of pet-friendly rental listings.

Why should landlords consider pet-friendly policies?

Prohibiting pets may actually cost landlords money in the long run, as units that allow pets are often leased faster than those that don't. According to Zillow’s in-house figures in 2025, pet-friendly rental listings received “9% more views, 12% more saves and 11% more shares than listings that don’t allow pets — and in the New York metro, they rented a full 26 days faster.”

And the Zillow trends report further supports this idea with sheer numbers. According to its research, 58% of rental households have one or more pets (and of those with pets, 40% have dogs while 31% have cats). Not only is that the majority of renters, but by way of comparison, Zillow’s report states that just 37% of renters have a child and 46% have some kind of houseplant.

So it stands to reason that landlords may want to consider broadening the pool of potential renters by allowing pets, as a growing number of renters (65% in 2025 vs. 60% in 2024) call pet-friendliness “essential” when looking for rentals properties — and that number jumps to 73% for renters interested in single-family homes.

“The rental market has undergone a dramatic shift for pet owners,” Amanda Pendleton, Zillow Home Trends Expert tells HGTV via email. “Just three years ago, a little more than half of rental listings on Zillow allowed pets. Today, that number has climbed to 77%.”

As more renters own pets, landlords will have to keep up with the trend.

“The share of renters with pets has surged in the past eight years, and landlords are clearly responding to that demand,” Pendleton continues. “Pet-friendly rentals are no longer a nice-to-have; they're increasingly the norm, and renters with furry family members now have more options than ever before."