Average Rent in Contra Costa County: A City-by-City Breakdown for 2026

Contra Costa County is where a lot of Bay Area renters end up when the rest of the region stops making financial sense. It is big, it is uneven, and the spread between the cheapest and most expensive cities is close to $1,500 a month for comparable apartments. A one bedroom in Antioch and a one bedroom in Danville are both "Contra Costa," and they are not remotely the same budget.

Here is what renters are actually paying across the county in 2026, city by city, plus the commute and stock differences that explain why the numbers look the way they do.

The county-level picture for 2026

Countywide, the median asking rent across all unit types sits around $2,900 a month, and apartment-only averages cluster between roughly $2,100 and $3,100 depending on the city. The broader East Bay average is about $2,680, up a little over 1 percent year over year.

The useful takeaway is that 2026 is a flat-to-slightly-soft year in Contra Costa. Some cities are up fractionally (Brentwood around 1 percent), several are actually down (El Cerrito about 1 percent, San Ramon about 2.5 percent, the Contra Costa Centre area near Pleasant Hill BART about 1.8 percent). Nothing is spiking. If you are renewing or shopping, that matters: you have more room to negotiate here than you would in a market climbing 5 percent a year, especially in the larger professionally managed buildings that track vacancy closely.

The most affordable tier: East County

Antioch

Antioch averages around $2,130 for an apartment, the lowest of any sizable city in the county. One bedrooms land in the $1,800 to $1,900 range and two bedrooms around $1,900 to $2,100. The tradeoff is commute. Antioch sits at the far end of Highway 4, and while eBART (the Antioch extension of the BART Yellow Line) connects you to Pittsburg Center and then transfers at North Concord/Martinez, you are realistically looking at 75 to 95 minutes door to door into downtown San Francisco. For anyone working in Concord, Walnut Creek, or the Tri-Valley, the math is far better.

Pittsburg

Pittsburg averages around $2,260. It is a slightly shorter Highway 4 trip than Antioch with the same eBART access, and the Pittsburg Center station has pulled some newer multifamily development into the downtown area. Older garden-style complexes off Railroad Avenue and Buchanan Road are where you find the genuinely cheap units.

Oakley and Brentwood

Brentwood averages around $2,730, up slightly year over year. Oakley's published averages look surprisingly high, sometimes over $3,000, and that is a data artifact worth understanding: both cities rent out mostly single-family homes rather than apartments, so the "average rent" is really an average house rent. If you want a three bedroom house with a yard and a garage in Contra Costa, East County is the best value in the county. If you want a studio or a one bedroom, there is very little inventory out here and you should look west.

The central corridor: the best transit value in the county

This is where most renters should concentrate, because the BART Yellow Line runs straight through it and the price-to-commute ratio is the best in Contra Costa.

Concord

Concord averages around $2,330, which makes it the standout value for anyone who needs real transit. Studios run about $1,720, one bedrooms about $2,060, and two bedrooms about $2,520. There are two BART stations (Concord and North Concord/Martinez), and from Concord station you are roughly 45 to 55 minutes to Embarcadero. The Todos Santos Plaza area downtown has the walkable restaurant cluster; the complexes along Clayton Road and Monument Boulevard are where the cheaper older stock sits.

Pleasant Hill and Contra Costa Centre

Pleasant Hill one bedrooms run roughly $2,030 to $2,275. The Contra Costa Centre district built directly on top of Pleasant Hill BART averages about $2,580 and is down nearly 2 percent year over year. That pocket is worth a specific look: it is a cluster of newer transit-oriented buildings where you can live without a car, walk to the station in under five minutes, and currently negotiate, because several of those buildings compete directly with each other for the same renters.

Martinez

Martinez one bedrooms range from about $1,725 to $2,230 depending on the age of the building, which makes it one of the few places in the county where you can still find a sub-$2,000 one bedroom in a walkable downtown. It is also the county seat, so there is a steady base of government and healthcare workers. The catch is that downtown Martinez is not on BART; you drive to North Concord/Martinez station, or you use the Capitol Corridor train, which is excellent for Sacramento and reasonable for Richmond and Oakland but not a commuter-frequency service into San Francisco.

Walnut Creek

Walnut Creek is the central corridor's premium option, averaging somewhere between $2,720 and $3,100 depending on which dataset you use (the gap reflects how much new high-end product has been built downtown). You are paying for the downtown itself: the Broadway Plaza shopping district, the restaurant density, and a BART station you can walk to from a lot of the newer buildings. Roughly 40 to 50 minutes to downtown San Francisco. Expect to pay $400 to $700 more than Concord for an equivalent unit.

The west county: Richmond, El Cerrito, and the Highway 80 corridor

Richmond

Richmond averages around $2,650. Its big structural advantage is transit redundancy that no other Contra Costa city has: Richmond station is served by two BART lines plus Amtrak Capitol Corridor, and you also get the Richmond ferry to the San Francisco Ferry Building. That combination makes it the most practical Contra Costa city for a true San Francisco commute, roughly 35 to 45 minutes on BART. Rents vary widely by neighborhood here, with Point Richmond and the Marina Bay waterfront at the top end and the central and southern neighborhoods well below the city average.

El Cerrito

El Cerrito averages about $2,600 and is down roughly 1 percent year over year. It has two BART stations (del Norte and Plaza), which is unusual for a city of its size, and it functions as the slightly cheaper alternative to north Berkeley with much of the same access. If you are priced out of Berkeley, this is the first place to look.

Hercules, Pinole, and San Pablo

Hercules averages around $2,860, which reflects a newer, more suburban housing stock. The Highway 80 corridor cities north of Richmond are car-dependent, served by WestCAT buses feeding into the Del Norte BART station, and the I-80 commute through the Carquinez corridor is genuinely punishing in peak hours. Price them against Richmond and El Cerrito carefully, because you often are not saving money.

The expensive tier: Lamorinda and the 680 corridor

Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga

Lamorinda one bedrooms run roughly $2,200 to $2,420 and two bedrooms roughly $2,960 to $3,350. Lafayette and Orinda both have BART stations on the Yellow Line, and the tunnel ride puts Lafayette about 35 minutes from downtown Oakland. The real constraint is not price, it is inventory: these are low-density cities with very few apartment buildings, so the rental market is mostly single-family homes, in-law units, and a handful of small complexes near the Lafayette station. Listings turn over slowly and go fast.

Danville and San Ramon

Danville averages about $3,090, the highest in the county. San Ramon averages about $2,600 and has fallen about 2.5 percent year over year, with studios around $2,060, one bedrooms around $2,340, two bedrooms around $2,800, and three bedrooms around $3,230. San Ramon's softening is worth noting, because it is driven by the amount of newer apartment supply built around Bishop Ranch and City Center Bishop Ranch.

Neither city has BART. The 680 corridor is bus and car territory, with County Connection service and a long-discussed but still absent rail link. If you work in the Bishop Ranch office cluster or in Pleasanton, San Ramon is excellent. If you commute to San Francisco, you are driving to Walnut Creek or Dublin/Pleasanton BART and paying for parking.

Rent increase protections you should know about

Every renter in Contra Costa is covered by California's statewide cap under AB 1482, which limits annual increases to 5 percent plus local CPI, up to a hard ceiling of 10 percent, for buildings that are at least 15 years old. Single-family homes not owned by a corporation are generally exempt.

Several cities go further. Richmond has the county's oldest and strongest local rent control, covering older multi-family buildings with an annual allowable increase set by its rent board. Concord adopted a rent stabilization and just cause ordinance that caps increases well below the state ceiling, in the range of 3 percent, and Antioch has had a similar stabilization ordinance since 2022. El Cerrito has just cause eviction protections. Because the exact covered-unit rules and annual percentages change, confirm your specific building with the city's rent program before you sign or before you accept an increase.

How to choose

The honest framework for Contra Costa is to pick your commute first and your city second. If you need San Francisco five days a week, Richmond and El Cerrito win on time, and Concord wins on price per minute of commute. If you work in the East Bay or the Tri-Valley, Concord, Pleasant Hill, and Martinez give you the most apartment for the money. If you need a house with space and you work locally, East County is the only place the numbers work.

And because this is a flat market with several cities posting year-over-year declines, ask about concessions. In the newer buildings around Pleasant Hill BART, downtown Walnut Creek, and Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, a free month or reduced deposit is a reasonable thing to request right now.

You can search real listings across every city in this guide on Iris and filter by commute time instead of just city name, which is usually the comparison that actually changes your decision.