Reston renters are paying slightly less than they were a year ago, while tenants in nearby Tysons are shelling out more.

Reston's overall median apartment rent fell to $2,382 in October, a 0.4% decline from October 2025, according to Apartment List data reported by FFXnow. One-bedroom units in Reston had a median rent of $2,208, and two-bedrooms stood at $2,338.

Tysons was the lone bright spot for landlords among the six Fairfax County corridors Apartment List tracks. Its overall median rent hit $2,642, up 3.3% from a year earlier. One-bedrooms there cost a median $2,403 and two-bedrooms $2,881.

The other four corridors all posted small declines. Fairfax City fell the most at 1.1%, followed by Fair Oaks at 0.9%, Herndon at 0.8% and Centreville at 0.1%.

What it means for Reston renters

Reston's dip is part of a broader cooldown across Fairfax County. The countywide median rent in October was $2,382 overall, $2,041 for one-bedrooms and $2,364 for two-bedrooms, according to FFXnow reporter Scott McCaffrey.

The county's rental market has followed seasonal patterns in 2026, with median prices ranging from $2,316 in January to $2,428 in July, McCaffrey reported. The all-time monthly peak for Fairfax County was $2,472 in June 2025.

Before the pandemic, the county's median apartment rent stood at $1,971. It dropped to $1,818 by January 2021 before rebounding to that June 2025 peak.

National picture offers mixed signals

Nationally, the rental market crossed a milestone in October. Year-over-year rent growth turned positive for the first time since mid-2023, according to Apartment List's national rent report. The gain was slim: the national median rent of $1,384 was up just 0.1% from a year earlier.

That headline number masks continued softness. Units leased in October sat on the market an average of 36 days, up two days from September, Apartment List analysts said. Thirty-two percent of properties nationally were offering concessions worth at least one month of free rent, four percentage points higher than a year ago.

Zumper CEO Shawn Mullahy pointed to competing forces in an analysis cited by FFXnow. "With elevated mortgage rates, would-be buyers are staying renters longer," Mullahy said. "But the same inflation that pushed rates up has wages lagging prices and employers hiring less, which leaves renters little room to absorb further increases and can slow the new household formation that drives demand."

Regional context

Across the D.C. metro area, the median rent of $2,165 in October was down 0.1% from a year before, McCaffrey reported. Alexandria's median rent declined modestly to $2,189 overall. Arlington's rose slightly to $2,604, keeping it the fifth most expensive of the 100 largest urban areas tracked by Apartment List.

The available data does not explain why Tysons is outperforming Reston and the rest of the county. Apartment List's next monthly update will offer a look at whether the gap between the two corridors widens or narrows heading into winter.