What credit score do you need to get an apartment?

Landlords are not typically (i.e. legally) required to check your credit scores to rent out their apartment. So, there is no standard credit score needed to qualify for a rental. The credit score you need will solely depend on the city, neighborhood, and mainly, policies followed by your landlord before renting you the apartment. If you are planning to live in a high-demand apartment or neighborhood, you may need a higher credit score (in the 670-700 FICO® Score range).

Landlords mainly check your credit score to understand how reliable you can be with rent payments based on your past payment history. Records of bill payments, other loans, debts, collections, evictions, etc. are some of the items that may be checked in your report.

It is also possible that some of these landlords themselves report rental payments to credit bureaus, like Experian® through the Experian Boost service. In this case, you can also improve your credit score significantly for every on-time rent payment.