June 2026 places the typical asking-rent index for 02130 at $3,285 per month, up 1.3% from the matching month a year earlier. This is Zillow ZORI: a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a lease-by-lease quote or a particular listing. The five-digit label 02130 is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The immediate decision tension is slower current rent movement against a stronger prior rent path and a separately measured resale market, which cannot be converted into a conclusion about an individual dwelling.
Two source universes show why the current index should not be substituted for a household survey estimate. The matched Census ZCTA's ACS 2024 five-year survey places median gross rent at $2,426, with a $120 90% margin of error; it surveys occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. ZORI is 35.4% higher, but that comparison does not describe a new-lease premium or a unit's utility package. HUD FMR/SAFMR is instead an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Scaling ZIP ZORI by the local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $2,318 for a studio, $2,503 for one bedroom, $3,285 for two, $4,107 for three, and $4,350 for four; the local HUD two-bedroom standard is $2,311. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents.
Affordability looks different depending on whether the evidence concerns current asking rent or occupied households. ACS reports 10,128 renter-occupied homes and 4,335 households with gross rent at or above the 30% income threshold, a 42.8% burden share. Matched ZCTA median household income is $131,551. Applying that structural screen mechanically to current ZORI produces $131,400 of required annual income. This arithmetic closely brackets the area median, but it is not advice, an applicant qualification rule, or evidence of what any renter pays. The burden result is retrospective survey evidence for occupied renter homes; it neither identifies today's available supply nor proves a particular household's situation.
That same survey counts 19,120 housing units. Its occupied stock is 55.5% renter occupied, and its total vacancy rate is 4.6%; it classifies 2,998 units as single family and 3,966 as large multifamily. Those categories describe stock rather than rental listings. The vacancy rate pools the survey's vacancy categories and is not a current availability measure, so it cannot prove that a particular unit is empty or attainable. Similarly, the renter share shows the composition of occupied housing, not the rent level, condition, utilities, or lease terms for a property.
Broader values provide a directional benchmark, not substitutions for 02130. The City of Boston context rent is $3,469, the Suffolk County context rent is $3,423, and the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro context rent is $3,210; each is a wider-scope context value rather than ZIP rental evidence. The local asking index lies below the named city and county readings but above the named metro reading. These comparisons do not turn city, county, or metro observations into ZIP comps, and they leave untouched the distinctions between an asking-rent index, ACS gross rent, and HUD's administrative standard.
At exact same-month endpoints, ZORI increased 1.3% annualized over one year, 2.9% over three years, and 5.2% over five years. Recent direction therefore breaks from the faster longer path rather than confirming it. The direct history has 100% coverage across 138 observations, which gives a complete record for the stated series but does not make the next reading predictable. Monthly returns had 3.3% annualized variability, so a single current ZORI point deserves more confidence as an index reading than as a precise estimate of every listing. Separately, the historical maximum drawdown reached 6.9%, evidence that this series has previously retreated. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 1,474 for momentum, 2,088 for stability, and 1,971 for balanced signals; lower ranks are higher positions. They sort past patterns and are not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Resale signals are direct but are not rent comps. In Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation, median sold price is $839,810, 6.0% above a year earlier. It recorded 121 homes sold and a 20-day median marketing time. The same for-sale record reports 106 homes of inventory and 2.7 months of supply; average sale-to-list was 101.8%. Each of those is a for-sale/resale observation, not a rental transaction, rental comparable, or evidence of a given property's operating result. Taken together, the observed sales pace and above-list average are more assertive resale signals than the recent ZORI change. That tension challenges a simple reading in which a nearly median-income rent screen alone describes the ZIP's full housing decision context.
Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the median sold price produces a 4.69% cross-source screening ratio. It is only a screening ratio joining an asking-rent index to a resale median; it does not measure the economics, costs, or cash flow of any individual property. The contrast between slower rent movement and the resale price change is a measured tension, not a prediction about either market. Limits also include the ZCTA-versus-delivery-ZIP boundary difference, ACS survey uncertainty, the HUD scaling method, and the blended rental types within ZORI. For a particular address, do the live asking rent, availability date, actual bedroom count, included utilities, lease term, and comparable closing record align with the index, the modelled ladder, and the rolling resale observation?
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow's June 2026 ZIP index is $3,285, with a 1.3% same-month annual gain. That pace trails the ZIP's three- and five-year annualized changes, so the current reading reflects deceleration rather than continuation of the longer record. The figure remains a blended typical asking-rent index across rental types. It should not be read as a signed lease, a bedroom-specific observation, or a forecast.","title":"Current rent growth has decelerated"},{"body":"ACS identifies 42.8% of occupied renter households as paying at least 30% of income toward gross rent, while the current-ZORI arithmetic screen requires annual income close to the matched ZCTA median household income. The burden measure is historical survey evidence and includes occupied homes. The income screen is arithmetic only, not a statement about tenant eligibility, affordability for a particular household, or current unit availability.","title":"Survey burden and the income screen answer different questions"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates obtained by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard rather than a direct asking-rent dataset. The estimates provide a consistent size ladder around the ZIP index, but they cannot establish what landlords are currently asking for a specific bedroom count, building type, utility package, or lease term.","title":"Bedroom values are HUD-scaled estimates"},{"body":"Redfin's direct rolling resale record shows a rising median sold price, 121 completed sales, short reported marketing time, limited months of supply, and an above-list average sale-to-list result. Those are ZIP for-sale observations, not rental transactions. The contrast with slower asking-rent growth is a useful tension for screening, but annualized ZORI divided by resale price remains only a cross-source ratio rather than property-specific economics.","title":"Resale evidence is firmer than rent momentum, but separate"}],"risks":["The five-digit market label has a matched ZCTA, but the ZCTA is a statistical area rather than a USPS delivery ZIP. Boundary and source differences can make property-level inference unreliable.","ACS gross rent is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes, includes selected utilities, and has sampling uncertainty. It cannot establish current concessions, availability, or the payment on a particular new lease.","Complete series coverage improves confidence that the backward-looking path was observed, but its variability and maximum drawdown show that one current ZORI observation has limited precision for any specific listing.","Redfin measures rolling ZIP resale activity while ZORI measures asking rents. Their annualized-rent-to-sale-price calculation is cross-source screening only; live rent, unit configuration, closing evidence, and property costs remain separate checks."],"qa":[{"a":"They are different evidence universes. Zillow ZORI is a current typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, while ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey statistic for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The difference does not identify a new-lease premium, landlord pricing decision, or the utility terms of a specific listing.","q":"Why is the Zillow asking-rent index higher than ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly ZIP estimates, not measured bedroom rents. The estimates scale the overall ZIP ZORI by the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, so this method supplies a consistent size-based frame but does not replace direct current listing evidence for a particular unit.","q":"Are the studio-through-four-bedroom values observed rents?"},{"a":"It divides annualized current ZORI by the structural 30% threshold to produce an arithmetic income figure. It is not financial advice, a tenant-screening policy, or an applicant qualification rule. ACS rent burden instead reports the share of surveyed occupied renter households whose gross rent met or exceeded that threshold, and it cannot identify the burden of any individual household.","q":"What does the 30% required-income screen mean here?"},{"a":"It adds a direct rolling-three-month ZIP observation of the for-sale market: sold prices, sales volume, marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list behavior. Those figures help show that resale conditions differed from recent rent momentum, but they are not rental comps. The rent-price calculation is only a cross-source screening ratio and cannot establish property-level cash flow or transaction economics.","q":"What does the Redfin resale record add to the rental evidence?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback","release":"ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + 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