The Vital Statistics on the U.S. Housing Market

Online real estate company Trulia has released the results of its "semi-regular" look at rental process around the United States, producing this tried and true conclusion: "The rent is too damn high." The pace at which rent is getting more than too damn high is the shocking part of Trulia's findings, however.

Around the country, median rent rose 3.1%, while in some cities it rose nearly three times that average. "In fact, in Tacoma, Wash., Sacramento, Calif., Milwaukee and Los Angeles rents rose 8% or more based on our estimates," writes David Weidner in a written post that that explains the data.

When combined with data from previous years, we're talking about huge rises in rental prices. Around the country, rents have increased 19.6% since 2012. "Places like Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Oakland, Calif., have seen increases of more than 50% since the end of the Great Recession," according to Weidner.

The article includes a lot of helpful infographics to help visualize the data, and a few other angles to understand the implications of rents rising. For instance, rising rents mean that in some cities buying a house and paying a mortgage is a better financial proposition than in others. Weidner also expresses hope that relief might be coming to some markets soon.