This is Info-fastfood. There’s no nutritional value in this data. First off the data should be presented in at least a county level or MSA. A cloropleth map would be nice too.
So? New York State is not New York City. New York City is populous but the rest of the state's cities pale in comparison and in decline. Texas has multiple expensive cities with populations over a million. And rents in NYC vary widely; Manhattan is much more expensive than Staten Island.
Last time I checked, rent controlled apartments make up ~1% of housing units in the city, and that number decreases all the time (because the supply of rent controlled apartments is constantly decreasing). So, I think I'd need to see a citation that rent control has any serious effects on NYC housing prices.
I'm not saying that 1% couldn't have larger effects, but given the small amount of rent-controlled units I think the burden of proof is on you here.
> Rural NY to Rural TX, I will bet anytime that Rural TX is cheaper especially in the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas.
Why? I think you have a very different picture in mind of what rural NY looks like. There are a ton of extremely poor towns and cities up near Rochester and Buffalo. Lots and lots of rust belt remnants in the western part of the state that haven't recovered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt#/media/File:Total_mf...
Maybe it's $50 for a 1 bedroom in west Texas vs. $60 for a 1 bedroom on the outskirts of Hammond NY, but I don't think that's a very meaningful difference.
My guess is remote parts of Texas are probably still cheaper. It's so big, remote towns can't be bedroom communities, they're less well-regulated so building costs are probably lower, and property taxes are probably lower (less expensive maintenance than in NY weather and they don't take care of their citizens as well).
Also, that median price isn’t too far off from what it costs to get a luxury apartment in a downtown. There aren’t that many $3k/mo apartments because, at that rate, you might as well get a house.
Note that the "least expensive" data is from people reporting their rent on loan applications. College students probably take out fewer loans and would be underrepresented in the data set.
Edit: I see Lincoln is also one of the higher ones as a percentage of income; that could be skewed by college students but again, this data is from loan applications.