We Don’t Know How Much It Costs to Rent a Home in a Given ZIP Code

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Sources: American Community Survey (ACS) one-year and five-year estimates, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Small Area Fair Market Rents, and Zillow rental listings.

Notes:The American Community Survey asks respondents how much they pay per month in rent and utilities. The one-year estimates are derived from households who answered the survey in the previous year and moved after 2015 (or 2010 if the estimate was made before 2015). One-year estimates are only made at the county level, which are interpolated to the zip code level. If a zip code spans multiple counties, we allocate it to the county it overlaps with most. The five-year estimates are derived from all respondents who moved after 2015 (or 2010 if the estimate was made before 2015). Five-year estimates are made for all census geographies, but confidence intervals are large for small areas. For both the one- and five-year estimates, the most recent available data are from 2017. Zillow releases a monthly estimate of rental prices at the zip code level based on listings posted on their platform. It is likely a biased sample and typically makes estimates much higher than public sector sources. Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMR) are based off of the American Community Survey’s most recent estimates of 40th percentile recent mover rental prices at the zip code level. HUD then uses national economic statistics to trend the local data to the upcoming year. When a zip code is associated with more than one SAFMR for a given year, we average the estimates.