Sometimes late rent payments can affect your credit score if the landlord reports your late rent payments to the credit bureaus.
Not all landlords report the late rent payments to the credit bureaus especially if they're an individual landlord however if the place you rent is through a rental company then the landlords may report your late rent payments to the credit bureaus.
If the landlord does report your late rent payments to the credit bureaus then yes your credit score can be affected and be lowered.
So it's important to try to make the rent payments on time and make your rent payment one of the priority payments before other bills.
You have to have a roof over your head so that should be on your list of priorities of payments.
Having late rent payments can make it hard for you to rent another home or apartment and affect your ability to get other loans or even a mortgage in the future due to a poor credit rating.