7 US cities where you can rent an apartment for under $600 a month

In August, two Manhattan landlords were caught renting out illegal sub-units with no windows, sprinklers, or fire-safety systems. In one of the illegal apartments, the ceilings were reported to be just 4.5 to 6 feet tall.

Gothamist reports that the tiny spaces were being rented out for $600 a month.

Read more: A Manhattan landlord is facing nearly $145,000 in fines for splitting up a condo horizontally to build 9 illegal micro-units that resemble a scene in ‘Being John Malkovich’

Given that New York City is home to one of America’s most expensive rental markets, it’s no surprise that even illegal micro-apartments will cost renters a pretty penny. In fact, one year’s worth of the average legal rent in Manhattan ($2,980 for a one-bedroom, as of June 2019) is more than three-quarters of the country’s average annual salary, which is $47,060.

But not every American city is this outrageously expensive.

With the help of Zillow, Business Insider compiled a list of cities where you can legally rent a real apartment — windows included! — for less than $600 a month. Of the 36 cities Zillow provided, Business Insider has listed the seven largest in terms of population. Population data for each city was collected from Niche, a ranking and review site.

Keep reading for a list of places in the US where the median monthly rent is less than $600, ranked from the most to the least expensive.