5 Cities Where You Can Rent a 1,300 Square Foot Apartment for $1,500 or Less

If you've searched for a rental lately or read the news, you're probably aware that home rents are rising in every state, averaging $1,326 this year and an average asking price of $1,900 for the tenants. looking to move to a new location. This can be worrying news if you're an entrepreneur trying to cut living expenses while you start your business, or you're concerned about affordable housing for your company's employees.

To make things a little easier, apartment rental site RentCafe has compiled a list of cities where apartment renters can get over 1,100 square feet of space for $1,500 per month or less. The site combined these with its list of the best cities for renters (based on everything from available jobs to air quality to affordability) to rank the top 20 options.

If you or your employees are tenants (or deciding where to locate your startup), it's worth checking out the full list. Here are the top five, where $1,500 will get you 1,300 square feet or more. It's about the size of a small house. Compare that to an expensive California city like San Diego, where $1,500 will get you less than 500 square feet.

1. Amarillo, TX

Average rent: $879 Average space for $1,500: 1,411 square feet

Amarillo ("yellow" in Spanish) is the largest city in the Texas Panhandle, with a population of just over 200,000. Once considered the helium capital of the world, Amarillo's economy is now driven by the meat-packing industry, with about a quarter of the country's beef processed there, as well as the oil extraction. Walmart, Bell Helicopter Textron and Owens-Corning are major employers. The same goes for Pantex, the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant in the United States. Amarillo is sometimes referred to as "Bomb City". It is number 23 in the RentCafe ranking of the best cities for tenants.

2. Little Rock, Arkansas

Average rent: $946 Average space for $1,500: 1,395 square feet

Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas and the state's largest city, with a population of approximately 203,000. Department stores Dillard and Windstream Communications are headquartered there, and the city also has a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Dassault Falcon Jet, Siemens, Kroger, L'Oréal and Timex are the main employers. And, of course, it's the headquarters of the Clinton Foundation. Little Rock is number 37 on RentCafe's ranking of best cities for renters.

3.Oklahoma City

Average rent: $917 Average space for $1,500: 1,390 square feet

If you wanted to be redundant, you could call it by its official name: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but many locals just call it "OKC". It is the capital and the largest city of the state. With a population of approximately 688,000, it is also the 20th most populous city in the country.

Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy are headquartered there, as are Paycom and Hobby Lobby. Oklahoma City ranked 44th in RentCafe's list of best cities for renters.

4.Mobile, Alabama

Average rent: $1,042 Average space for $1,500:

Named after the ancient Mobile tribe, Mobile is Alabama's only coastal port, with significant local shipping, shipbuilding, and steel industries. Airbus also has a factory there. The city's population is approximately 187,000 and Mobile ranks as the 45th best city for renters according to RentCafe.

5. Memphis, TN

Average rent: $1,032 Average space for $1,500: $1,323

Memphis is the largest city on the Mississippi River and of course, it's the home of Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion. It is also the home of the National Civil Rights Museum, and Memphis has the largest black population in the state. Overall, the population of Memphis is 633,000.

The location of the town m...