City limitsPlace boundary

Curated city comparison

RaleighAtlanta

Southeastern employment hubs whose direct gross-yield, renter-pressure, housing-stock and local-demand records imply different underwriting priorities.

Raleigh, NC city briefAtlanta, GA city brief

Decision memo

The trade-off before property underwriting

The interpretation uses direct city records only. County and metro averages are not substituted into this comparison.

Atlanta, GA better fits cash-flow and entry-affordability screening. Its Zillow gross yield is 5.92% versus Raleigh, NC at 4.35%, while its Zillow value index is $387,146 versus $436,056. That advantage is only a first-pass signal: gross yield excludes operating and capital costs. Underwrite neighborhood rent durability, property taxes, insurance, repairs and realistic vacancy before advancing an address.

Renter pressure is mixed. Atlanta has a 53.57% renter share and 3.21% Zillow rent growth, but also an 11.07% ACS vacancy rate. Raleigh has a lower 9.52% vacancy rate and slightly more rent-burdened households, at 52.05%. Atlanta therefore shows the broader renter base and stronger recent index momentum; Raleigh shows tighter surveyed occupancy. Check submarket concessions, lease renewals and competing deliveries.

Housing-stock objectives separate the cities further. Raleigh is the better fit for single-family sourcing, with a 58.08% share and a 1997 median year built. Atlanta better fits large-multifamily sourcing, where the share is 40.60%. For local-demand resilience, Raleigh has lower unemployment at 4.40% and poverty at 11.89%, plus slightly stronger overlapping-vintage population change. Atlanta remains relevant where rent growth and renter depth outweigh those risks. Property-level underwriting should next verify condition, tenant profile, achievable rent and block-level supply.

Direct city matrix

The same definition on both sides

“n/a” remains missing. Zillow indexes and ACS survey measures stay visibly separate.

Decision evidence	Raleigh, NC	Atlanta, GA
Typical home valueZillow ZHVI · city	$436,056	$387,146
Observed market rentZillow ZORI · city	$1,579	$1,911
Gross yieldZORI × 12 ÷ ZHVI · before costs	4.3%	5.9%
Price to household incomeZillow value ÷ ACS income	5.11x	4.52x
Annual rent to incomeZillow rent × 12 ÷ ACS income	22.2%	26.8%
Rent burdenACS renter households paying 30%+	52.1%	51.5%
Renter shareACS occupied housing	49.3%	53.6%
Vacancy rateACS all housing units	9.5%	11.1%
Population changebetween ACS vintages · not annualized	▲ 3.6%	▲ 3.4%
UnemploymentACS civilian labor force	4.4%	5.9%

Entry and income screen

Price, rent and yield do not tell the same story

Bars begin at zero within each measure. Gross yield remains a before-cost screen.

Zillow city ZHVI and ZORI · 2026-06 / 2026-06

Price and rent history

Two city paths, each rebased to 100

Each panel keeps price and rent in its own city; no level is borrowed across geographies.

Five-year path

Price and rent, rebased to 100

ZHVI +23.3%ZORI +17.5%

Each series starts at 100 so their direction can be compared without pretending that a home value and a monthly rent share the same unit.

Five-year path

Price and rent, rebased to 100

ZHVI +5.3%ZORI +15.6%

Each series starts at 100 so their direction can be compared without pretending that a home value and a monthly rent share the same unit.

Fit by objective

There is no universal city winner

Five city questions remain separate so a yield lead cannot erase affordability or demand risk.

Cash-flow screenAtlanta

Atlanta, GA better fits cash-flow screening because its Zillow gross yield is 5.92%, compared with 4.35% in Raleigh, NC. Atlanta also has stronger Zillow rent growth at 3.21%, while Raleigh is at 0.16%. This is not a net-return conclusion: gross yield excludes vacancy, management, repairs, taxes, insurance, utilities, financing and capital work. The next check is an address-level expense budget paired with defensible lease and concession evidence.

Entry affordabilityAtlanta

Atlanta, GA better fits entry affordability. Its Zillow value index is $387,146, below Raleigh, NC at $436,056, and its price-to-income measure is 4.52 versus 5.11. Both indexes are city-level screening measures rather than quotations for a specific property. Underwriting should now compare actual asking prices, renovation scope, insurance, taxes and financing terms for otherwise similar assets; ACS median home value should not be treated as a competing appraisal.

Renter pressureDepends on the property

Atlanta, GA has the larger renter share at 53.57% and stronger Zillow rent growth at 3.21%. Raleigh, NC has the lower ACS vacancy rate at 9.52% and a slightly higher rent-burden share at 52.05%. These signals answer different parts of renter pressure, so fit depends on whether the strategy prioritizes renter depth and momentum or tighter surveyed occupancy. Check current concessions, renewal increases, turnover and nearby competing units.

Housing stockRaleigh

Raleigh, NC better fits a single-family housing-stock objective: single-family units represent 58.08%, versus 41.41% in Atlanta, GA. Raleigh's median year built is 1997, compared with 1989 in Atlanta, which may support a newer-stock search but does not establish condition. Atlanta instead has a 40.60% large-multifamily share, making it the stronger fit for that asset type. Inspect systems, deferred maintenance, layout and renovation history property by property.

Local demand riskRaleigh

Raleigh, NC better fits the lower-risk local-demand screen. Its unemployment rate is 4.40% versus 5.88% in Atlanta, GA, while poverty is 11.89% versus 16.94%. Raleigh's population change is also slightly stronger at 3.56%, compared with Atlanta's 3.37%. That population comparison uses overlapping ACS vintages and is not annualized. Verify block-level tenant retention, household incomes, leasing velocity and nearby supply before relying on citywide demand indicators.

Household pressure

Acquisition and renter affordability

Zillow city indexes divided by direct ACS city household measures.

Housing system

Tenure, vacancy and structure

ACS citywide housing characteristics; not rentable inventory or lease-up speed.

Underwriting boundary

What this city comparison cannot decide

City evidence narrows a search; it does not appraise, inspect or finance a property.

01
Zillow city indexes and ACS survey measures answer different questions. Zillow rent and value support current market screening, while ACS median gross rent and home value describe surveyed housing; they should not be averaged or treated as competing property appraisals.
02
Gross yield is a pre-expense screen only. It excludes vacancy, management, repairs, taxes, insurance, utilities, financing and capital work, so Atlanta's higher indicated yield may narrow or reverse after property-specific costs and physical-condition findings.
03
Citywide records can conceal major neighborhood and asset-level variation. Population change comes from overlapping ACS vintages and is not annualized; vacancy, renter share, unemployment and poverty likewise do not establish demand for a particular block, unit type or rent tier.

Figure-level provenance

The direct sources behind both records

Release period and retrieval date remain separate. Open either city brief for its complete geography ledger.

Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingACS 2024 5-yearPulled 2026-07-29 Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesACS 2024 5-yearPulled 2026-07-30 Zillow ZHVI — city home valueszillow_zhvi_city.csvPulled 2026-07-29 Zillow ZORI — city market rentszillow_zori_city.csvPulled 2026-07-29

Raleigh, NCOpen the complete city brief481,031 residents in the current ACS record Atlanta, GAOpen the complete city brief505,268 residents in the current ACS record Property testStress-test the same assumptionsReplace city averages with an actual deal