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Average Boston, Cambridge rents among nation’s most expensive: report

There’s a narrow silver lining

The average rents in Boston and Cambridge are among the five most expensive in the United States, according to a new report from real estate research site RENTCafe.

The firm culled data from listings in buildings with at least 50 units, so it may not be the sharpest snapshot of the market in either city. But it does fit with other reports showing the Boston area in general as one of the nation’s most expensive for tenants.

The average apartment rent in Boston as of May 1 was $3,180 a month, according to RENTCafe. That placed the city third nationwide, behind Manhattan and San Francisco.

The average in Cambridge was $2,957, placing it No. 5, just behind San Mateo, California.

There is a narrow silver lining in the report: Cambridge was one of a relative handful of the 250 cities that RENTCafe analyzed to see its average rent decline year-over-year in April. Though that decline was only 1.5 percent. Good luck out there.