What Credit Score Do You Need to Rent an Apartment?
No law sets a minimum credit score to rent. Each landlord picks their own bar, and most of them care more about how you've paid than about the exact number. Here's how it works from both sides of the application.
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There is no official minimum credit score to rent an apartment. Each landlord sets their own bar, and in practice most land somewhere in the 600s: around 620 to 650 is a common floor at professionally managed buildings, while many independent landlords will approve lower scores if the income is solid and the recent payment history is clean. A score in the 670s or higher, which FICO calls “good,” gets most applicants through without much discussion.
Those numbers are a starting point, not a promise. The credit score to rent an apartment is only one line on a screening report, and it’s rarely the line that sinks an application by itself.
Why there’s no single number
No federal law tells landlords what score to require. A big property management company might run every applicant through a screening product with a hard cutoff baked in. A retired couple renting out the other half of their duplex might look at the score, glance at the payment history and decide over coffee. Both are allowed, as long as they treat applicants the same way and stay on the right side of fair housing law.
There’s also no single score. Some landlords see a FICO score, some see a VantageScore, and many screening companies sell their own proprietary “rental risk” score built partly on credit. The CFPB looked hard at this market in its November 2022 reports on tenant background checks and found, among other things, that a reported 68% of renters pay application fees, which often cover these reports, while renters rarely get to see what’s in them.
So when an applicant asks “what score do I need?” the honest answer is “for which landlord, and which score?”
Credit score to rent an apartment, range by range
FICO scores run from 300 to 850 and FICO groups them into five bands. The landlord reactions below aren’t rules. They’re the patterns you’ll see across a lot of rental markets, and a hot market shifts everything up.
| FICO range | FICO’s label | What usually happens on a rental application |
|---|---|---|
| 800 to 850 | Exceptional | Approved on credit. The conversation moves straight to income and move-in date. |
| 740 to 799 | Very good | Approved on credit almost everywhere. |
| 670 to 739 | Good | Meets nearly every landlord’s credit standard. Competitive buildings may still prefer the higher applicant. |
| 580 to 669 | Fair | The judgment-call zone. Many approvals, sometimes with a larger deposit or a co-signer. Fixed-cutoff buildings may decline the lower half. |
| 300 to 579 | Poor | Hard at managed properties. Possible with independent landlords, usually with conditions. |
For perspective, FICO put the national average FICO score at 718 as of April 2023. Renters tend to score lower than homeowners, though, so plenty of perfectly reliable tenants are in the 600s. And because a landlord might be looking at a different model than the one in your banking app, read our breakdown of FICO vs. VantageScore before you panic over a 20-point gap.
What landlords weigh more than the score
Experienced landlords read past the three digits fast. These are the things that actually change a decision.
Income against rent
The old rule of thumb is that monthly gross income should be about three times the rent. A 760 who earns twice the rent can be a worse bet than a 640 who earns four times it. Landlords will usually ask for pay stubs, an offer letter or bank statements.
Payment history, especially recent
A 630 with every payment on time for the last two years, dragged down by high card balances, is a very different applicant from a 630 with three 60-day lates in the past six months. The first person is stretched. The second person is in trouble right now.
Debts owed to landlords and utilities
A collection from a previous landlord or an unpaid utility account speaks directly to the question a landlord is asking, so it worries them more than almost anything else on the report. It can get an application declined at any score. If you have one, settle it if you can and be ready to explain it.
Evictions
These don’t come from the credit report. They come from court records, which tenant screening companies search separately. A clean credit file doesn’t mean a clean rental history, and the reverse is also true. If the difference between the report and the score is fuzzy, credit report vs. credit score sorts it out.
Renting with a low score or no score
A low score doesn’t end the search. It changes what you bring to the table.
Lead with income proof. Two recent pay stubs and three months of bank statements answer the landlord’s real question, which is whether you can pay.
Offer a co-signer or guarantor. A parent or relative with good credit who signs on as guarantor removes most of the landlord’s risk.
Offer a larger deposit, where it’s legal. Many states cap security deposits (often at one or two months’ rent), so this only works up to the local limit.
Show rent you’ve already paid. Rent payments rarely appear on credit reports. Industry estimates cited by the CFPB put rental payment history in the consumer reporting system at only 1.7% to 2.3% of U.S. renters. So bring the proof yourself: canceled checks, payment app history or a letter from your current landlord.
Explain the dip before they find it. A two-sentence note (“I had a medical emergency in 2021. Every payment since has been on time.”) does more than you’d think.
If you have no score at all, you’re in big company. The CFPB estimated in 2015 that about 26 million American adults were credit invisible, with no credit record at the national bureaus. A thin file just means less history, not bad history, and good landlords know that.
Your rights if a landlord says no
If a landlord turns you down, or approves you only with a co-signer, a bigger deposit or higher rent, because of something in a credit or screening report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires them to give you an adverse action notice. The CFPB’s page on what to do if a tenant screening report gets you denied lists what it must include: who supplied the report, your right to a free copy within 60 days, and your right to dispute anything wrong.
Use that free copy. Errors are common, and a mixed-up file or an old debt that should have aged off can cost you an apartment. If the report is accurate, remember that most negative items stop counting against you on the report after seven years, and their weight in the score fades well before that.
Credit can’t be a cover for discrimination either. The Fair Housing Act bars landlords from treating applicants differently because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. If you think that’s what happened, HUD takes complaints.
If you’re the landlord: setting a fair bar
Most landlords overthink the cutoff and underthink the consistency. A few habits keep you fair and fast:
- Write your criteria down before you list the unit. Minimum score (or score bands with conditions), income ratio, what you do about landlord collections and evictions. Apply it to every applicant in the same order.
- Use bands with conditions instead of one hard line. For example: 650 and up approved on credit; 580 to 649 approved with a co-signer or a deposit up to your state’s limit; below 580 reviewed case by case on income and recent history.
- Look at the reasons behind the score. A 610 from high card balances and a 610 from a recent default deserve different answers.
- Get the applicant’s OK first, and use a soft pull. Written consent is the simplest permissible purpose under the FCRA, and a soft pull means checking their credit never costs them points.
- Send the notice when you decline. If the report played any part, it’s required. Our tenant credit check guide covers the steps end to end.
Where a phone number fits in
Most rental inquiries start with a call or a text. With the applicant’s OK, you can run that phone number through our lookup and get back their name, current address, a real FICO Score 4 from TransUnion and a credit profile summary (total debt, credit usage, payment track record and the factors holding the score back) in seconds. It’s a soft pull, so they aren’t affected, and you can see whether they meet your written criteria before anybody drives across town for a showing. We explain the full flow on how it works.
If you’re the applicant, know your own number before you apply, pull your free reports and fix any errors, and when your score is in the fair range, show up with the proof that makes the landlord’s decision easy. A 640 with three months of bank statements and a glowing landlord letter beats a 700 with nothing else more often than people expect.
Frequently asked questions
Can a landlord deny me just because of my credit score?
Generally, yes, as long as they apply the same standard to every applicant and don't use credit as a cover for discrimination based on a protected trait. If they deny you because of something in a credit report, they have to send you an adverse action notice.
Does applying for apartments hurt my credit score?
Many tenant screening checks are soft inquiries, which don't affect your score. Some screening services do use a hard inquiry. It's fair to ask the landlord which kind they run before you pay the application fee.
Is 600 a good enough credit score to rent?
It can be. A 600 is in FICO's fair range. Plenty of independent landlords will approve it with solid income and a clean recent payment record, sometimes with a larger deposit or a co-signer. Large, professionally managed buildings with fixed cutoffs are harder.
What if I have no credit score at all?
Having no score is not the same as having bad credit. Bring proof of income, bank statements, rent payment records and a landlord reference, and offer a co-signer or guarantor if you can. Some landlords will accept a larger deposit where state law allows it.
