FIPS 08059 · population 579,377 · part of Denver, CO
The latest county-level Zillow ZORI is $1,981 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 | $1,643 | Jefferson County, CO | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 1 bedroom | $1,754 | Jefferson County, CO | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 2 bedrooms | $2,089 | Jefferson County, CO | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 3 bedrooms | $2,734 | Jefferson County, CO | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 4 bedrooms | $3,049 | Jefferson County, CO | 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 08059. 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.
Jefferson County presents a price-versus-income tension for underwriting. Zillow’s 2026-06 record puts the median home value at $628,821, down 2.2% year over year, while median asking rent is $1,981 and gross yield is 3.78% before costs. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 0.48% year over year and reports a separate 40.55% cumulative five-year increase, not annualized. Those vintages and methods cannot be averaged. The thesis is a capital-intensive, thin-current-income case with conflicting appreciation signals. Yield-focused buyers should be cautious; appreciation-focused buyers should investigate the specific asset rather than rely on a county series.
Market rent, not HUD FMR, should anchor the rent line: it is 94.8% of the HUD two-bedroom standard of $2,089. FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate. The effective property-tax rate is 0.48%, with median annual tax of $3,082. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled annual building-value loss is 0.20%. Insurance premiums, vacancy, repairs, utilities, management and financing are not published, so the supplied gross yield cannot become a net yield or cash-flow conclusion.
Demand and competition are mixed. Realtor.com’s 2026-06 snapshot records 2,101 active listings; that is visible MLS supply, not closed-sale demand evidence. QCEW’s 2025 annual record shows covered employment down 0.36% while the covered-worker average weekly wage rose 5.95%; these are workplace jobs, not resident employment or unemployment. Net migration is positive, but average mover AGI is nearly aligned inbound and outbound, weakening the income signal from flow alone. Investor mortgages are 6.75% of 7,122 total purchases: participation is material but not dominant, and it does not prove competition.
Next checks are property-level: closed-sale and lease comps, flood-zone and elevation review, an insurance quote, and a full operating and financing budget. Closed-sale evidence is needed to decide whether Zillow’s decline, Realtor asking-price conditions, or FHFA’s repeat-transaction gain describes the target; these series do not answer that question. Missing expense and insurance data prevent a net-return decision, while missing resident employment, vacancy and tenant-quality evidence prevent a tenant-demand conclusion. Separate county signals from parcel facts.
This view uses 12 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.
Zillow’s June 2026 ZORI, a typical observed asking-rent index, shows a wide local range in the selected direct-evidence ZIPs: $1,665 in 80003 to $2,184 in 80401, a $519 spread around a $1,900 median. The county’s Zillow figure is $1,981, down 1.39% year over year; changes across shown ZIPs are mixed. That dispersion makes unit-specific screening important. This makes the immediate screening question less about a single countywide rent and more about whether a current unit quote, its size, and its terms fit a household’s budget. Neither the range nor the short-run movement establishes the rent for any particular available home.
Do not collapse those Zillow observations into the ACS or HUD measures. ACS five-year estimates report median gross rent—a survey measure that may include utilities and reflects occupied renter payments rather than a current asking-rent index—from $1,587 to $2,117 across the selected ZCTAs, compared with $1,861 countywide. Separately, the FY2026 HUD Fair Market Rent is a $2,089 administrative standard for a two-bedroom unit in the displayed records. Zillow’s direct-rent index values equal 79.7% to 104.5% of that standard, but this is a contextual ratio, not a bedroom-matched market quote, program eligibility test, or evidence that a listing is available at either amount.
Affordability pressure and vacancy must be read as separate ACS five-year signals. The burden share ranges from 41.1% to 61.9%, versus 52.9% countywide, while reported vacancy spans 3.4% to 7.9%, compared with 4.7% countywide. At 80123, the low-vacancy end still carries a 57.2% burden share; 80214, at the high-vacancy end, records 55.2%. These paired observations do not yield a simple affordability ranking or causal explanation. Vacancy is not a count of units currently offered for rent, and a burden share reflects household payments and income in the survey data rather than the price of a new lease.
Coverage and geography limit how far the pattern can be generalized. The shown set contains 12 of 20 eligible direct-ZORI ZIP/ZCTA matches and is explicitly not an exhaustive county inventory. ZIPs are assigned to Jefferson County by their largest HUD residential-address share; that share is as low as 37.7% in the set, so results can include ZIP geographies with substantial addresses elsewhere. Census ZCTAs also are statistical areas, not USPS delivery ZIPs. For a property-level decision, verify live availability, asking rent, utilities and mandatory fees, bedroom count, lease term, deposits, concessions, application and income rules, and the applicable HUD bedroom standard if a program uses it.
20 ZIP profiles passed the county gate; the 12 with the most renter households are shown.
| ZIP / ZCTA | Zillow asking rent | ACS gross rent | HUD 2BR | Burden 30%+ | Vacancy | Income screen | HUD county share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80021 | $1,931 | $2,117 | $2,089 | 41.1% | 6.4% | $77k | 56.8% |
| 80214 | $1,693 | $1,627 | $2,089 | 55.2% | 7.9% | $68k | 98.1% |
| 80226 | $1,817 | $1,775 | $2,089 | 52.3% | 6.0% | $73k | 99.4% |
| 80401 | $2,184 | $1,939 | $2,089 | 50.0% | 4.5% | $87k | 100.0% |
| 80033 | $1,940 | $1,587 | $2,089 | 48.2% | 4.5% | $78k | 100.0% |
| 80123 | $2,017 | $2,077 | $2,089 | 57.2% | 3.4% | $81k | 37.7% |
| 80227 | $1,805 | $1,872 | $2,089 | 53.0% | 5.3% | $72k | 77.7% |
| 80228 | $1,869 | $1,916 | $2,089 | 45.6% | 4.1% | $75k | 100.0% |
| 80002 | $2,103 | $1,824 | $2,089 | 50.0% | 5.2% | $84k | 96.8% |
| 80003 | $1,665 | $1,795 | $2,089 | 57.2% | 3.5% | $67k | 84.4% |
| 80004 | $2,026 | $1,825 | $2,089 | 54.3% | 6.9% | $81k | 100.0% |
| 80215 | $1,793 | $1,785 | $2,089 | 61.9% | 5.5% | $72k | 100.0% |
Open a five-digit report for asking rent, affordability, rent history and resale liquidity. Each row keeps its ZIP/ZCTA measurement scope.
| ZIP report | City label | Zillow rent | 1Y change | ACS burden 30%+ | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZIP 80228 rental reportJefferson County | Lakewood, CO | $1,869 | ▼ 1.1% | 45.6% | 34,942 |
| ZIP 80226 rental reportJefferson County | Lakewood, CO | $1,817 | ▼ 5.2% | 52.3% | 31,573 |
| ZIP 80227 rental reportJefferson County | Lakewood, CO | $1,805 | ▼ 0.4% | 53.0% | 34,907 |
| ZIP 80214 rental reportJefferson County | Lakewood, CO | $1,693 | ▼ 0.6% | 55.2% | 27,022 |
Zillow ZORI is an asking-rent index. ACS burden and population describe the Census ZCTA; missing observations remain n/a.
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.
0.195% of building value expected lost per year
$3,082 median annual bill
28,132 in · 26,341 out
$84,298 arriving · $83,950 leaving
481 of 7,122 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County | 579,377 | $629k | $1,981 | 3.8% | inland flooding |
| Denver County | 718,877 | $546k | $1,889 | 4.2% | inland flooding |
| Arapahoe County | 659,844 | $516k | $1,821 | 4.2% | hail |
| Adams County | 530,225 | $486k | $1,856 | 4.6% | hail |
| Douglas County | 377,150 | $712k | $2,306 | 3.9% | inland flooding |
| Broomfield County | 76,304 | $629k | $2,035 | 3.9% | inland flooding |
| Elbert County | 27,874 | $686k | n/a | n/a | inland flooding |
| Park County | 17,907 | $527k | $2,643 | 6.0% | wildfire |
| Clear Creek County | 9,262 | $565k | $2,146 | 4.6% | inland flooding |
The published median asking rent is the market measure. HUD FMR is a two-bedroom payment standard, not market rent.
FHFA contributes a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a home value; its observation is also a different vintage and method from Zillow’s.
No. It measures non-occupant purchase mortgages relative to total purchases, while Realtor.com evidence measures visible listings rather than closed demand.