More out-of-towners and fewer locals are searching for rental homes in the Philadelphia region, with New Yorkers leading the way. No word on whether they plan to become Eagles fans.

In an analysis of the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, Philadelphia had the second-largest drop in local rental demand since before the pandemic, as measured by listing views on Realtor.com.

In fall 2019, about 68% of the Philadelphia metro’s rental traffic on the website came from local residents. By this fall, that share had dropped to about 45%, according to a Realtor.com report published this month.

Philadelphia was one of 20 metros that switched from having mostly local demand for rental listings before the pandemic to mostly out-of-town demand. Only Detroit had a larger drop than Philadelphia in the share of locals looking online for rentals.

This fall, most of the Philadelphia metro’s out-of-town rental traffic — 48% — came from the New York metro, which includes some North Jersey cities. The share of listing views coming from the New York metro grew from almost 7% of all traffic before the pandemic to more than 25% this fall.

In the Philadelphia region, the median asking rent for rentals with zero to two bedrooms was $1,743 in October, according to Realtor.com. The area’s affordability compared to New York and other large nearby metros attracts out-of-town renters. That’s also the case in metros such as San Francisco and Charlotte, N.C.

But for many renters already living in the Philadelphia area, the region’s relative affordability doesn’t mean much. The region is one of the least affordable major metros in the country for its apartment renters based on their incomes, according to a January report by the online real estate brokerage Redfin.

“Shifting affordability across regions is reshaping renter behavior, with a growing share of demand coming from outside local markets,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “Data show that more renters are willing to look farther afield, in some cases to entirely new markets, for homes that better align with their budgets.”

Although New York renters are among those eyeing the Philadelphia region, many are looking to stay put. The New York metro had the highest share of local rental demand this fall. About three in four online views for rentals in the metro came from inside the metro, about the same share as in 2019.

Nationwide, the rental market has continued to cool, Hale said. From January to October of this year, the median asking rent stayed roughly flat, falling by 0.1%. Over the same period of 2024, the median asking rent increased by 1.1%.

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