The city has soared into the top spot for the highest rents in the Central West, and more alarming for renters, new data shows their rental costs during the past 12 months have spiked by around six per cent.

The recently released data shows the medial rental costs for homes and units across the region and how they have changed during the past few years.

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The Domain Rental Report for the December 2018 quarter shows the median cost to rent a home in Orange is $370 a week.

This is higher than prices in Bathurst ($350), Dubbo ($350), Young ($270) and Cowra ($250).

The data also shows that Orange has the most expensive weekly median rental costs for units at $265, compared to $252.50 in Bathurst and Dubbo.

Not only are rents more expensive in Orange, but the city recorded the highest percentage increase in costs across the Central West during the past year.

In the past year, median rents for homes in Orange spiked by 5.7 per cent (from $350 to $370) while unit rents jumped 6.0 per cent (from $250 to $265).

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There were also increased in other Central West locations including Bathurst where median house rents increased by 2.9 per cent (from $340 to $350) and Young which jumped by 3.8 per cent (from $260 to $270).

During the past year, however, it became a little cheaper to rent units in some locations such as Bathurst where costs fell by 2.9 per cent (from $260 to $252.50) and Dubbo where prices dropped 1.0 per cent (from $255 to $252.50).

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For investors, rental yield fell in many locations across the Central West during the past 12 months.

In Bathurst, yields on a house fell 1.2 per cent, while units increased by 1.7 per cent.

In Dubbo, yields on a house fell 0.1 per cent, while units increased by 2.2 per cent.

While in Orange yields on house and units fell during the past year by 2.8 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively.