I was hesitant to post on this topic, but since my experience was so different than my son’s I thought I should give is a try.
My first rental was while I was in the USAF after growing tired of life in the single men’s barracks. It was small 1 bedroom apartment in a sketchy area of San Antonio TX, with suspiciously stained green shag carpeting, a small kitchen, and a window unit AC (very noisy). Initially, all I had was a twin mattress on a metal frame, an AM/FM clock radio to wake up with (and listed to music), and an ironing board and iron (so could press my uniforms). It was a bleak place but I could afford it on enlisted pay, and slowly, over time, other things were added – a ratty sofa complete with duct-taped tears, and a small black and white TV with a broken antenna.
Flash forward 40 years or so and I helped our son move in to his first apartment. His financial situation was totally different than mine after a few high paying college internships and a very interesting signing bonus from his new job. His first apartment? Penthouse level in a new apartment building surrounded by tech companies in Mountain View CA. Small, expensive, but very nice with a garage parking. Since he had no furnishing outside a few computers, he did buy everything new and he was definitely opinionated on what he wanted: we shopped at Restoration Hardware, Herman Miller, and Design Within Reach. We bought electronics - McIntosh (tube based) and Sonus Faber speakers, a large 4k TV. And we bought kitchenware All-Clad. We did all this shopping over a few days! His rational was that if he was going to buy, he wanted it last and “match my aesthetic” (his words). It’s been two years and his place still looks pristine. His world starting out is much different than mine was.