FIPS 21067 · population 323,725 · part of Lexington, KY
The latest county-level Zillow ZORI is $1,551 per month in 2026-06. It is a typical asking-rent index across rental types—not an arithmetic average, signed lease or quote for one property.
| Bedrooms | HUD monthly FMR | Geography | Measurement boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $883 | Fayette County, KY | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 1 bedroom | $1,079 | Fayette County, KY | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 2 bedrooms | $1,272 | Fayette County, KY | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 3 bedrooms | $1,743 | Fayette County, KY | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 4 bedrooms | $1,940 | Fayette County, KY | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
Zillow asking rent, ACS gross rent and HUD FMR describe different housing universes. They remain separate and no metro, city or neighboring-county value replaces missing county evidence.Zillow pulled 2026-07-26 · HUD pulled 2026-07-26
Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.
Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.
Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.
Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-08-02. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.
BEA per-capita personal income divides all personal income by the county population. It is broader than wages, but it is not household income or a measure of what renters can afford.
HUD CHAS separates renter households by income relative to local HAMFI. Moderate burden means housing costs above 30% through 50% of income; severe burden means more than 50%.
These Apartment List observations match the exact county Census code 21067. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and wider metro measures.
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Fayette County offers a usable but cost-sensitive income screen for underwriters able to verify property flood exposure, insurance and operating expenses; it warrants caution for buyers relying on headline yield. Zillow's county observation labeled 2026-06 reports a $336,465 median home value and $1,551 median monthly asking rent, with a published 5.53% gross yield before costs. The effective property-tax rate is 0.87%, so this is not net return.
Zillow's value and asking rent both rose year over year, with rent up 3.14%; that is a directional pairing, not proof that an individual asset's rent covers carrying costs. HUD's two-bedroom FMR of $1,272 is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate, and cannot replace published asking rent in yield work. FHFA's 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.51%; it supports an upward price direction but is not a home value and cannot be averaged with Zillow's differently dated, differently constructed measure.
Demand and competition are mixed. The annual QCEW series shows covered employment and covered-worker wages rising at county workplaces; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy or resident labor market. Realtor.com's MLS evidence indicates visible active supply, 39 median days on market, and 15.69% of listings reduced. Its pending-to-active ratio is 107.35%, but these are listing-market measures, not closed sales or proof of buyer demand. More tax-return households moved out than in, and outgoing average income exceeded incoming income by $10,305. Non-occupants accounted for 462 of 3,281 purchase mortgages: visible competition, not all transactions.
Risk limits remain material. Modeled annual building-value loss is 0.12% and inland flood is the named dominant hazard; this is modeled loss, not property-specific damage. Missing occupancy, rent-comparable, lease-renewal, insurance-quote, debt-cost, assessment and transaction-sale evidence prevents a net-yield, vacancy-resilience or exit-price conclusion. Next checks are asset flood exposure, taxes and insurance, achieved rents versus asking rents, and investor mortgages versus cash and owner-occupant transactions.
This view uses 10 direct Zillow ZIP markets matched to Census ZCTAs. Each ZIP is assigned by its largest HUD residential county share; this is not an exhaustive county inventory.
Across the selected 10 direct-ZORI ZIP records, Zillow’s June 2026 ZORI—a typical observed asking-rent index—runs from $1,288 to $2,017, a $729 spread. That spread is 56.6% of the lower endpoint. Its selected-set median is $1,513.50, below Fayette County’s $1,551 ZORI. The distribution makes the decision less about a single county benchmark than about which rent exposure is tolerable for the unit type and lease being considered. A renter comparing alternatives must therefore distinguish a market-level index from the price and terms of a specific unit. The lower end of this selected evidence is not automatically lower-cost in a household-budget sense, and the higher end is not a statement about every listing; ZORI summarizes observed asking-rent conditions.
Zillow, ACS, and HUD answer different questions and should stay separate. The ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA estimates give median gross rent, not a current asking-rent reading: at the selected ZORI endpoints, those ACS figures are $959 and $1,629. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,272, an administrative bedroom-specific standard rather than an asking rent. The ZIP ZORI-to-HUD comparison ranges from 101.3% to 158.6%; it can frame a standard-versus-index comparison but does not price a particular apartment or establish eligibility. At county scale as well, an index does not substitute for either the survey measure or the HUD standard.
Burden and vacancy do not produce a simple low-rent/high-rent sorting. ZIP 40508 couples a 12.9% ACS vacancy estimate and a 58.0% share of renters spending at least 30% of income on rent; its ZORI-based required annual income is $51,520, compared with $29,440 median household income. ZIP 40514 presents the reverse combination: 0.9% vacancy, 34.0% burden, an $80,680 income screen, and $95,914 median income. This contrast is descriptive, not causal: a vacancy estimate is not live rental inventory, and median income or a screen cannot identify a prospective renter’s affordability. The practical trade-off is to assess price, available units, and household budget together rather than rank ZIPs on one metric.
Coverage and crosswalk rules delimit this reading. The direct-evidence set covers 61,830 renter households but is not an exhaustive county inventory. It reports ZIP labels assigned to Fayette County by largest HUD residential-address share, which ranges from 98.4% to 100.0% among shown records; ZIPs can still cross county lines. ACS measurements are for statistical ZCTAs, not necessarily USPS delivery ZIPs. Before acting on any unit, verify its exact address and county placement, bedroom count, advertised rent, lease terms, utility treatment, current availability, and any program’s actual eligibility rules.
All 10 eligible direct-evidence ZIP profiles are shown.
| ZIP / ZCTA | Zillow asking rent | ACS gross rent | HUD 2BR | Burden 30%+ | Vacancy | Income screen | HUD county share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40517 | $1,373 | $1,136 | $1,272 | 51.0% | 6.6% | $55k | 100.0% |
| 40504 | $1,476 | $970 | $1,272 | 42.9% | 6.8% | $59k | 100.0% |
| 40509 | $1,602 | $1,394 | $1,272 | 49.2% | 3.9% | $64k | 99.5% |
| 40508 | $1,288 | $959 | $1,272 | 58.0% | 12.9% | $52k | 100.0% |
| 40515 | $1,552 | $1,361 | $1,272 | 40.2% | 5.5% | $62k | 98.4% |
| 40511 | $1,871 | $1,302 | $1,272 | 44.4% | 5.3% | $75k | 98.9% |
| 40502 | $1,412 | $1,089 | $1,272 | 45.2% | 8.3% | $56k | 100.0% |
| 40503 | $1,551 | $1,168 | $1,272 | 47.9% | 5.6% | $62k | 100.0% |
| 40505 | $1,363 | $925 | $1,272 | 51.0% | 7.5% | $55k | 100.0% |
| 40514 | $2,017 | $1,629 | $1,272 | 34.0% | 0.9% | $81k | 100.0% |
Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.
Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.
0.123% of building value expected lost per year
$2,542 median annual bill
8,877 in · 9,420 out
$58,685 arriving · $68,990 leaving
462 of 3,281 mortgages
Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.
A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.
| County | Population | Price | Rent | Yield | Hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayette County | 323,725 | $336k | $1,551 | 5.5% | inland flooding |
| Scott County | 59,536 | $346k | $1,527 | 5.3% | inland flooding |
| Jessamine County | 54,588 | $328k | $1,542 | 5.6% | inland flooding |
| Clark County | 37,192 | $258k | $1,209 | 5.6% | inland flooding |
| Woodford County | 27,279 | $356k | $1,566 | 5.3% | inland flooding |
| Bourbon County | 20,240 | $258k | $1,023 | 4.8% | inland flooding |
Yes. It is median monthly asking rent; HUD FMR is separately a payment standard.
A repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a dollar home value.
Inland flood.