At $1,759 in June 2026, Zillow’s ZORI for ZIP 15206 shows a typical observed asking-rent index, blended across rental types, rising 5.12% from the matching month a year earlier. ZIP 15206 is both Zillow’s market identifier and a match to a Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The current index produces a $70,360 annual income figure under a 30% rent screen, against a $72,920 ACS median household income and a 28.9% asking-rent-to-income measure. That screen is arithmetic only: it is neither advice nor an applicant-qualification rule, and it cannot establish what any household can pay.
The Zillow ZIP history places the current reading in a stable-growth path rather than treating it as an isolated result. Exact same-month annualized ZORI changes were 5.12% over one year, 4.38% over three years, and 5.01% over five years. Recent direction therefore confirms, rather than breaks from, the longer observed path; it is still backward-looking and supplies no forecast or investment conclusion. Annualized monthly-return variability of 2.09% suggests relatively contained movement in the index. Separately, the deepest peak-to-trough setback was 2.28%, a limited historical drawdown. Full 100% coverage across 115 observations supports confidence that one current index snapshot is not a lone extreme, while not making it a listing-level fact. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 387 for momentum, 190 for stability, and 48 for the balanced measure, where lower ranks are stronger.
For-sale evidence introduces a useful tension. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation recorded a $379,414 median sold price, up 8.4% year over year, with 64 homes sold and a median 49 days on market. Inventory stood at 113 homes and months of supply at 5.4. The average sale-to-list result was 98.0%; 25.8% of sales closed above list, while 51.0% went off market within two weeks. The resale price increase confirms an upward headline also visible in rent history, but supply, marketing time, and sale-to-list measures challenge a simple conclusion that conditions are uniformly tight. These are resale observations, not rental transactions. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the median sold price is a 5.56% cross-source screening ratio only; it cannot represent ownership costs, financing, transaction costs, or property-level economics.
The matched Census ZCTA ACS 2024 five-year survey answers a different question from Zillow. It reports a $1,315 median gross rent for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The current asking-rent index is 33.8% higher, but this is not evidence that comparable units changed by that amount or that tenants face the current index. ACS is a multi-year survey of occupied renter households, whereas ZORI is a current typical asking-rent index across rental types. Timing, unit mix, occupancy status, and the utility treatment differ. The two measures are therefore complementary context, not interchangeable rental quotes.
Bedroom figures require the same source discipline. The modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, are $1,359 for a studio, $1,454 for one bedroom, $1,759 for two bedrooms, $2,254 for three bedrooms, and $2,423 for four bedrooms. Each estimate scales ZIP ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. The local HUD two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR benchmark is $1,670, putting the index 5.3% above that administrative standard. HUD FMR/SAFMR is bedroom-specific and administrative rather than an observed asking-rent measure, so neither the HUD figure nor the modelled ladder substitutes for current unit-level asking rents.
ACS housing-stock evidence gives the affordability tension a broader household context. The ZCTA contained 17,157 housing units and 2,741 vacant units, a 16.0% vacancy rate. Its renter share was 59.1% of occupied households. Within the ACS renter population, 45.2% were rent burdened at 30% or more of household income. That burden measure concerns surveyed renter households and gross rent, not Zillow asking rents or a particular available home. Likewise, the aggregate vacancy rate does not establish that any specific unit is vacant, suitable, priced at the index level, or available on a given lease date.
Wider rent context is lower, but it remains context rather than direct ZIP evidence: the Pittsburgh city scope recorded $1,593, the Allegheny County scope $1,551, and the Pittsburgh, PA metro scope $1,523. This ZIP’s income screen also exceeds the metro-scope rent-to-income measure of 24.1%. Those comparisons identify a higher current ZIP asking-rent index relative to larger geographies; they do not turn city, county, or metro figures into rental comparables for a specific address. They also do not resolve the difference between current advertised asking conditions and the ACS record of occupied renter homes.
The evidence is strongest when each source remains in its own universe. Zillow summarizes ZIP asking-rent conditions; ACS supplies survey-based household and stock context; HUD supplies an administrative bedroom standard; and Redfin describes direct ZIP resale activity. Relevant property-level checks are the actual advertised rent, lease date and term, bedroom configuration, unit type, included utilities, concessions, availability, and condition. For resale comparison, the address, property characteristics, listing changes, and closed-sale record also matter. Neither the vacancy rate nor renter burden proves circumstances for a particular unit. Which documented unit and transaction facts remain after those source distinctions are respected?
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow’s current $1,759 ZIP index rose 5.12% from the matching month a year earlier, while the mechanical 30% screen reaches $70,360 annually. The local ACS median household income is $72,920, placing the aggregate screen near that benchmark. This is not a statement about any renter’s qualification, income, household composition, lease terms, or available unit.","title":"Current asking rent is near the aggregate income screen"},{"body":"Same-month Zillow ZORI history is positive across one, three, and five years, while low observed variability and a limited drawdown indicate that the present reading does not stand alone as an extreme monthly index point. The discovery ranks are retrospective comparison tools, not predictions. They describe past ZIP index behavior and do not supply a property strategy or investment conclusion.","title":"History supports a steady index path, not an outlook"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale series shows a rising median sold price but also 5.4 months of supply, 49 days on market, and an average sale below list. The combination confirms an upward resale-price headline yet complicates a claim that every market signal points to fast, uniformly tight conditions. These are for-sale observations, not rental transactions.","title":"Resale appreciation and resale pace send mixed signals"},{"body":"The ACS ZCTA gross-rent figure and HUD bedroom standards answer different questions from Zillow ZORI. ACS represents surveyed occupied renter homes with selected utilities, while HUD FMR/SAFMR is administrative and bedroom-specific. The displayed studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled by scaling the ZIP index through HUD’s ladder; they are not measurements of local bedroom rents.","title":"ACS and HUD contextualize Zillow rather than validate it"}],"risks":["The current Zillow index blends rental types and reflects observed asking rents, so it cannot verify an advertised rent, concession, utility package, lease term, unit condition, or availability for a particular address.","The 30% income figure is mechanical arithmetic using the ZIP index, while ACS household income is a survey statistic. Neither measure identifies an applicant’s finances, eligibility, or actual housing payment.","ACS vacancy and rent-burden results are area-level survey measures. They do not prove that a specific unit is vacant, appropriately priced, financially suitable, or occupied by a burdened household.","The Redfin ZORI-to-price calculation combines an asking-rent index with a resale median. Without property costs, financing, taxes, condition, and transaction-specific data, it remains only a screening ratio."],"qa":[{"a":"For June 2026, it is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. It is not a census of signed leases, an average of all tenant payments, or a bedroom-specific rent schedule. The label matches Census ZCTA 15206 for this report, but that statistical boundary is not identical to USPS delivery geography.","q":"What does Zillow ZORI represent for ZIP 15206?"},{"a":"ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent describes occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, while Zillow ZORI summarizes typical observed asking rents. The sources have different timing, unit composition, occupancy treatment, and rent definitions. Their difference does not establish a current rent change for matched homes or a price for any listed unit.","q":"Why does ACS median gross rent differ from Zillow’s asking-rent index?"},{"a":"No. The studio-through-four-bedroom amounts are modelled estimates created by scaling the ZIP ZORI level with the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not a survey or feed of current asking rents. A specific property can differ because of unit characteristics, utilities, lease terms, condition, and availability.","q":"Are the displayed bedroom rents measured ZIP rents?"},{"a":"It supplies a separate direct ZIP for-sale observation covering median sold price, price change, sales volume, marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list outcomes. It does not provide rental transactions or property-level rental economics. Dividing annualized ZORI by median sold price creates a cross-source screening ratio, not a substitute for address-specific operating or transaction data.","q":"What does the Redfin resale evidence add to the rent analysis?"}],"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 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