To clarify the overall development, hot spots, and frontiers in the field of public rental housing research in China, CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to conduct a bibliometric analysis to analyze 280 journal articles on public rental housing and downloaded during 2002 to 2020 from the China Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI) database. The results indicate that public rental housing research in China has entered a rapid development stage since 2008. Research institutions include Chongqing University and the Renmin University of China, which have a high volume of publications. The knowledge base in this field involves urban spatial development, access and exit mechanism, development models, pricing, and policy research. Specifically, financing models, pricing, exit mechanisms, and housing policies are current research hotspots, and future research might be related to industrial impact, community management, and resident welfare.