Rachel is looking for units for around $1,800. Looking at the apartments she saves in order, we can see the price range and total area of her search.

The apartments she saves are all within a $1,000 price range.

And the total area of her search is 4.9 square miles — on the high end of most rental searches on StreetEasy.

Meanwhile, Rebecca has a higher budget of $4,000 and knows she wants to live in Downtown Manhattan.

The units she saves span a much larger range of prices, from $2,800 to $5,600.

But Rebecca’s search spans much smaller geographic area — only 1.4 square miles.

So in NYC, rental searchers at lower price points have less price flexibility and more geographic variation, while higher-end searches have the opposite.