The distinctive decision question for 02169 is how a current blended asking-rent signal lines up with bedroom configuration, household resources, and the separate evidence on occupied homes—not whether a particular listing will transact at an index value. The five-digit 02169 label is both the Zillow ZIP market identifier and the Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow's June 2026 ZORI is $2,733 per month, up 2.6% from a year earlier. This is a typical observed asking-rent index across blended rental types, so it supplies a current ZIP-wide price signal rather than a lease quote, an all-in housing bill, or a direct description of every bedroom type.
Income and burden show why the current asking signal merits a separate household screen. In the matched ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA survey, median household income was $96,290. Applying the stated 30% arithmetic screen to the $2,733 monthly ZORI produces $109,320 in annual income; it is a budget comparison, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. Renter-occupied homes represented 59.0% of all occupied homes, and 47.0% of surveyed renter homes reported rent burden at or above 30%. That observed burden measure describes survey households and their reported costs, not the income, lease terms, utilities, or burden of a prospective tenant or a particular available unit.
For configuration-sensitive comparison, the estimated ladder moves from a studio at $1,929 to one bedroom at $2,083, two bedrooms at $2,733, three bedrooms at $3,417, and four bedrooms at $3,619 per month. These are modelled ZIP estimates created by scaling ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder; they are never measured bedroom rents. Their shape is useful for comparing the implied relative price by bedroom count, but it cannot identify actual listings, concessions, utility treatment, building quality, or the distribution of rents within a size class. The modelled $2,733 result matches the overall index by model construction, not as an independent bedroom-specific observation.
These rent benchmarks answer different questions and should not be merged. Zillow ZORI is the current ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index, blended across rental types. The ACS ZCTA five-year median gross rent was $2,089; it is a survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The $644 gap, or 30.8%, between that survey median and current ZORI is therefore a contrast between sources, populations, timing, and rent concepts, not an estimate of rent growth for the same homes. HUD's FY2026 two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard is $2,311, making ZORI 18.3% higher in this comparison. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent; its role here is the ladder input and separate benchmark.
The stock figures qualify what a headline vacancy rate can and cannot say. The ZCTA contained 30,352 housing units, with 28,707 occupied and 1,645 vacant, for a 5.4% vacancy rate. Of the vacant stock, 605 units were classified as for rent; the supplied vacancy categories also separate for-sale and seasonal units. These categories are components of vacancy, not a count of currently advertised, rentable listings. The structure mix also spans 10,616 single-family units and 10,170 large-multifamily units, both counted across the area rather than only renter housing. Consequently, neither the vacancy rate nor the for-rent classification establishes price, condition, lease timing, bedroom count, eligibility, or availability for any particular unit.
Context changes the reference value with geographic scope, which is why these figures should remain context rather than be substituted for the ZIP. In Quincy city context, the asking-rent index was $2,750; that citywide series covers a broader area than the ZIP. In Norfolk County context, asking rent was $2,970 and renter share was 31.3%; these county figures include housing conditions beyond Quincy. In the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro context, asking rent was $3,210, a wider-market benchmark rather than a ZIP estimate. The city, county, and metro series have their stated geographic scopes and cannot resolve differences among buildings or listings inside the ZIP.
Several limits govern a property-level use of this report. ZORI is an index and its blended rental types do not disclose the unit mix behind the figure; ACS estimates are ZCTA five-year survey results with sampling uncertainty; and HUD standards serve an administrative purpose. Before assigning any number to a property, check the live advertised rent and availability date, exact bedroom and bathroom count, lease term, whether selected utilities or other charges are included, concession terms, furnished status, income or program rules if stated, and the unit's location within the delivery area. Also distinguish a landlord's advertised price from the modelled bedroom estimate, and do not infer unit vacancy or tenant burden from area averages. These checks test the listing itself while preserving the separate ZIP, ZCTA, and HUD evidence universes.
","findings":[{"body":"At $2,733 in June 2026, ZIP ZORI stands $644, or 30.8%, above the ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA median gross rent of $2,089. This does not establish a change for the same properties: ZORI tracks typical observed asking rents across blended rental types, while ACS represents occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Treat the figures as distinct lenses on current asking conditions and survey-reported housing costs.","title":"Current asking signal exceeds the survey gross-rent median"},{"body":"Studio through four-bedroom estimates run from $1,929 to $3,619. Because each scales ZORI by the local FY2026 HUD ladder, they are modelled estimates rather than observed bedroom rents. The ladder helps compare implied configuration differences, but cannot report a listing's rent, utilities, concessions, condition, or availability.","title":"Bedroom figures are modelled, not observed rents"},{"body":"Putting the ZIP ZORI through the stated 30% screen yields $109,320 in annual income. This is arithmetic, not advice or a qualification rule. The ACS ZCTA survey reported a 47.0% rent-burden share among renter homes, while median household income was $96,290. Neither statistic determines a particular household's actual costs, income, lease terms, or eligibility.","title":"Income screen and observed burden answer separate questions"},{"body":"The matched ZCTA vacancy rate was 5.4%, including 605 units classified for rent, but these records do not count live listings or identify any unit's condition, terms, or price. For wider comparison, Quincy city asking rent was $2,750, Norfolk County asking rent was $2,970, and Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro asking rent was $3,210. Each is contextual and should not replace the ZIP-level index.","title":"Vacancy and wider-market figures require scope discipline"}],"risks":["ZORI is a blended asking-rent index, so an individual advertised unit may differ because its bedroom count, lease term, condition, utilities, charges, or concessions are not identified by the index.","ACS is a five-year survey for the matched statistical ZCTA, with reported margins of error, and it covers occupied renter homes rather than a contemporaneous inventory of available USPS delivery ZIP listings.","The bedroom ladder is generated by scaling ZORI with HUD standards. It cannot be treated as observed rents by unit size, and HUD FMR/SAFMR itself is an administrative standard rather than asking rent.","Area vacancy and rent-burden figures classify housing units and survey households, respectively. They cannot demonstrate that a specific property is vacant, affordable, eligible, or occupied by a household with any particular burden."],"qa":[{"a":"Zillow's $2,733 ZORI is a June 2026 ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS reports a $2,089 median gross rent from its 2024 five-year matched-ZCTA survey of occupied renter homes, including selected utilities. Their $644 difference compares different timeframes, populations, and rent definitions; it is not a same-home rent-change measure.","q":"Why does Zillow ZORI differ from ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"The $1,929 through $3,619 figures are modelled ZIP estimates for studio through four-bedroom homes. They use the local FY2026 HUD ladder to proportionally scale the overall ZORI, with the modelled two-bedroom result aligned to that index. They support relative configuration comparison only; they do not measure rents being asked for every bedroom class.","q":"What does it mean that the bedroom estimates are modelled?"},{"a":"The $109,320 figure is the annual income produced when the $2,733 monthly ZIP ZORI is put through a 30% income screen. It is arithmetic designed to express a rent-to-income comparison. It is not financial advice, a recommendation, a landlord policy, or an applicant qualification rule. Actual household income, costs, and lease terms are not provided.","q":"Is the required-income figure an applicant qualification threshold?"},{"a":"No. The 5.4% area vacancy rate and 605 vacant-for-rent units are aggregate ZCTA classifications, not a real-time listing feed. A property-level review needs the advertised rent, availability date, exact configuration, term, utility and other-charge treatment, concessions, furnished status, and any stated rules. Rent burden likewise cannot identify the circumstances of a current or prospective tenant.","q":"Can the vacancy rate identify an available unit?"}],"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 + SAFMR FY2026","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/usps_crosswalk.html"},{"key":"realtor_county","name":"Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory","release":"county inventory 2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-07-28","url":"https://www.realtor.com/research/data/"},{"key":"redfin","name":"Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts","release":"metro tracker through 2026-05-01","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/"},{"key":"redfin_zip","name":"Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply","release":"ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03","pulledAt":"2026-08-12","url":"https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/"},{"key":"zillow_county","name":"Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents","release":"county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori","name":"Zillow ZORI — metro market rents","release":"Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori_city","name":"Zillow ZORI — city market rents","release":"zillow_zori_city.csv","pulledAt":"2026-07-29","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori_zip","name":"Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents","release":"ZORI ZIP 2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"}],"history":[{"period":"2015-03-01","rent":1689.810319},{"period":"2015-04-01","rent":1690.371131},{"period":"2015-05-01","rent":1666.189977},{"period":"2015-06-01","rent":1696.508146},{"period":"2015-07-01","rent":1699.351027},{"period":"2015-08-01","rent":1709.831422},{"period":"2015-09-01","rent":1727.949471},{"period":"2015-10-01","rent":1734.306661},{"period":"2015-11-01","rent":1765.57009},{"period":"2015-12-01","rent":1746.98033},{"period":"2016-01-01","rent":1743.037726},{"period":"2016-02-01","rent":1736.956756},{"period":"2016-03-01","rent":1765.801649},{"period":"2016-04-01","rent":1800.713488},{"period":"2016-05-01","rent":1809.850352},{"period":"2016-06-01","rent":1798.092787},{"period":"2016-07-01","rent":1775.351927},{"period":"2016-08-01","rent":1787.779336},{"period":"2016-09-01","rent":1780.818947},{"period":"2016-10-01","rent":1792.708682},{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1788.413374},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1798.756553},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1810.816226},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1834.488104},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1859.673529},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1865.172337},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1857.646707},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1869.094722},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1883.81311},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1893.230819},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1902.334956},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1894.005361},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1902.662108},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1907.665193},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1932.448034},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1920.388502},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1908.704925},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1889.430063},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1925.062879},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1927.897942},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1936.765905},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1931.689998},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1954.062403},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1987.169574},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":2007.255635},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":2019.822805},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1985.732098},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1994.829633},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":2001.812458},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":2023.43037},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":2014.508673},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":2024.804784},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":2031.920052},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":2044.67507},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":2039.690866},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":2031.508865},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":2027.949744},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":2030.578539},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":2057.918679},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":2068.489648},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":2096.120648},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":2071.805737},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":2064.356001},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":2052.793935},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":2054.348836},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":2042.985593},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":2017.842228},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1998.033544},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":2001.757791},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":2002.74595},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":2005.31987},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":2013.717316},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":2024.023786},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":2039.236885},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":2058.551833},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":2093.848481},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":2122.70071},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":2157.262696},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":2190.759307},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":2216.482149},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":2235.578237},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":2255.277509},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":2268.999077},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":2274.427456},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":2290.407215},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":2331.938997},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":2368.307715},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":2381.196383},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":2380.136447},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":2380.321158},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":2400.088479},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":2428.213372},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":2439.466926},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":2439.96566},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":2449.446456},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":2475.650246},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":2492.77904},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":2493.175158},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":2484.968605},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":2484.770871},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":2490.968722},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":2493.10555},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":2514.144433},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":2509.440644},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":2541.513267},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":2545.36798},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":2556.157397},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":2544.781371},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":2550.024976},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":2561.61082},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":2573.235867},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":2583.140941},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2595.217204},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2608.851626},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2607.087637},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":2620.520562},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":2614.664024},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":2631.990995},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":2627.980857},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":2645.084051},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":2647.69142},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":2652.61587},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":2652.610653},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":2664.475387},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":2670.475104},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":2676.454268},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":2680.519708},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":2683.959267},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":2687.651523},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":2689.349606},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":2702.010562},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":2705.914794},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":2714.162268},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":2720.04285},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":2731.301287},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":2733.181606}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":136,"firstPeriod":"2015-03-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":136,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2664.475387,"endRent":2733.181606,"change":0.025786021269034176,"cagr":0.025786021269034176},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2484.770871,"endRent":2733.181606,"change":0.09997329649152986,"cagr":0.03227176220670991},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2093.848481,"endRent":2733.181606,"change":0.3053387725050005,"cagr":0.05473813260266347}},"maxDrawdown":-0.046794588896201805,"annualizedVolatility":0.024990627457084993,"consecutiveReturnCount":135}}