At $1,431, the current ZIP Zillow ZORI sits 31.0% above the matched ACS median gross rent of $1,093, while 49.8% of surveyed renter households report paying at least 30% of income toward gross rent. That is the central measured tension in 15235: the current asking-rent index is materially above a survey-based occupied-home rent measure, yet burden is already widespread in the survey universe. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types; it is not a count of signed leases, a utility-inclusive gross-rent median, or evidence that every available unit is priced at the index.
Backward-looking ZIP rent history shows continued growth rather than a reversal. The one-year exact same-month annualized change was 6.7%, compared with 5.3% over three years and 5.8% over five years. Recent direction therefore confirms the longer positive path and is somewhat faster than either multi-year measure, without establishing a future path. Annualized monthly-return variability of 2.6% indicates that historical monthly movements were not highly erratic, so a current ZORI snapshot has more continuity with nearby observations than a highly volatile series would provide. Separately, the maximum drawdown was 1.5%, a limited historical decline. Coverage was 96.9%. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 152 for momentum, 812 for stability, and 84 for the balanced measure, where lower is higher; these are descriptive ranks, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Bedroom sizing should be treated as a model, not as a set of measured local rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,097 for a studio, $1,184 for one bedroom, $1,431 for two bedrooms, $1,829 for three bedrooms, and $1,969 for four bedrooms. The local HUD two-bedroom FMR is $1,330, making the modelled two-bedroom figure 7.6% higher. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. These estimates use HUD’s relative bedroom ladder to allocate the blended ZIP rent index; they do not demonstrate what any particular bedroom type is currently asking or leasing for.
The affordability comparison requires equally careful universe separation. The ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, unlike the Zillow asking-rent index. At the current index, $57,240 of annual income is the arithmetic result of a 30% rent-to-income screen. Against the area-wide median household income of $67,240, the asking-rent-to-income screen is 25.5%; that household-income statistic is not a direct measure of renter income. ACS reports 1,928 of 3,872 renter households as burdened at 30% or more, producing the 49.8% burden share. The 30% calculation is not advice and is not an applicant qualification rule. The five-digit label 15235 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.
Housing composition provides context for how much weight to put on a blended rent index. The matched ZCTA has 33,951 people and 16,838 housing units, with renters occupying 25.2% of occupied homes. Its overall vacancy rate is 8.8%, but only 91 vacant units are classified as for rent in the ACS vacancy categories. The stock is predominantly represented by 14,374 single-family units, while 1,343 units are in larger multifamily structures. These counts describe survey-era stock and vacancy classifications, not real-time apartment availability, unit condition, landlord terms, or the probability that a specific advertised property can be rented.
Against wider geographies, the ZIP’s current index is lower but its renter burden remains notable. For wider context only, Pittsburgh city context rent is $1,593, Allegheny County context rent is $1,551, and Pittsburgh, PA metro context rent is $1,523. Those city, county, and metro figures are context for their respective broader geographies, not substitutes for direct 15235 observations. The comparison supports reading this ZIP as below those larger-area rent benchmarks, but it does not reconcile the difference between Zillow asking rent and ACS gross rent, because those sources measure different rental universes.
Resale evidence presents a related but not identical tension. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation, which describes the for-sale market rather than rental transactions, reports a median sold price of $205,004, up 6.8% year over year. It recorded 128 homes sold, a median 57 days on market, inventory of 145 homes, and 3.5 months of supply. Sale-to-list signals were an average 97.8% sale-to-list ratio, 28.3% of sales above list, and 56.6% off market within two weeks. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin’s median sold price is an 8.4% cross-source screening ratio only, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. The similar annual rent and sold-price changes align directionally, while the marketing-time and sale-to-list evidence shows resale liquidity was not a uniform rapid, above-list pattern.
The evidence is most useful as a set of bounded screens rather than a property conclusion. Zillow history describes past index movement, ACS describes surveyed households in a statistical area, HUD supplies an administrative bedroom ladder, and Redfin records ZIP resale activity. None identifies unit-level rent, repairs, utility obligations, lease concessions, tenant turnover, financing terms, or property expenses. Concrete checks should confirm the property’s actual asking price, bedroom count, structure type, utility responsibility, listing date, concessions, occupancy status, sale condition, and address geography. A reader should also verify whether the address’s USPS delivery ZIP and its Census statistical geography align before applying ZCTA-based context to an individual property.
","findings":[{"body":"The current Zillow ZORI for 15235 is materially above the ACS median gross-rent measure, but the comparison is not like-for-like. ZORI is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, while ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. The gap should be read as a source-universe difference as well as a current affordability tension.","title":"Asking-rent index exceeds survey gross rent"},{"body":"One-year rent growth exceeded the three-year and five-year annualized measures, so the latest direction continues rather than contradicts the longer history. Historical variability and maximum drawdown were limited relative to the observed growth path, supporting moderate confidence in continuity around the current index. The history remains backward-looking and cannot establish future rent movement.","title":"Rent history is positive with limited measured instability"},{"body":"Nearly half of surveyed renter households were rent burdened despite an area-wide median household income that clears the simple 30% screen for the current asking-rent index. The ZCTA stock is mostly single-family and renter occupancy is a minority of occupied homes. Vacancy classifications and rental-vacancy counts do not show the availability, quality, or price of a particular unit.","title":"Burden and stock data caution against treating the index as unit-level affordability"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP resale data shows sold-price growth broadly similar to the current annual rent-index change. However, the observed marketing time, average sale-to-list ratio below list, and limited above-list share indicate that resale conditions should not be summarized as uniformly aggressive. The annualized rent-to-price figure is only a cross-source screening ratio and does not describe property economics.","title":"Resale appreciation aligns with rent growth, but transaction signals are mixed"}],"risks":["The Zillow asking-rent index is blended across rental types and cannot verify the advertised rent, lease terms, utilities, concessions, condition, or bedroom configuration of any individual property.","ACS rent, income, burden, occupancy, and vacancy measures are survey estimates for a matched ZCTA over five years, so they do not provide real-time evidence about a specific renter or unit.","Modelled bedroom estimates inherit the ZIP index and HUD ladder assumptions. They are not observed bedroom-specific rents and should not replace unit-level rental comparables or current listing verification.","Redfin resale measures concern for-sale transactions in a rolling three-month ZIP observation. The screening ratio omits expenses, financing, taxes, maintenance, condition, and all other property-level economics."],"qa":[{"a":"They measure different universes. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, whereas ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The difference is therefore not proof that existing tenants received the same rent change or that every available listing is priced at ZORI.","q":"Why does the Zillow rent index differ from the ACS median gross-rent figure?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates produced by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not a survey of asking rents. A property review still needs the actual listing, bedroom count, utility treatment, lease structure, and current availability.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures observed rents for apartments in 15235?"},{"a":"The one-year, three-year, and five-year exact same-month growth measures were all positive, while measured monthly-return variability and the historical drawdown were limited. That supports interpreting the current index within a relatively consistent past series. It does not remove index limitations, establish future rents, or confirm the pricing of a particular rental unit.","q":"What does the history say about confidence in the current rent snapshot?"},{"a":"It is simply annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin’s direct ZIP median sold price, combining two separate data sources for a broad screen. It is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. It omits operating costs, property condition, financing, taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, and transaction-specific pricing.","q":"How should the Redfin rent-to-price screening ratio be used?"}],"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":"2021-02-01","rent":1025.22204},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1030.134634},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1042.300468},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1059.340373},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1080.542567},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1090.538407},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1103.189322},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1115.741812},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1135.001},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1141.445466},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1129.0126},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1136.200449},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1143.335996},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1155.702293},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1162.817724},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1177.329851},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1181.067055},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1189.119637},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1187.027134},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1194.42429},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1187.859562},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1189.677897},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1203.294666},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1213.60154},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1235.525223},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1226.507117},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1223.873417},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1219.942658},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1238.611314},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1251.545803},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1266.662927},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1260.013881},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1251.853299},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1247.301781},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1268.293086},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1287.18381},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1277.328622},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1274.878226},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1287.726085},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1289.42021},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1292.124445},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1286.931677},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1287.008384},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1293.05756},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1314.743991},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1327.643472},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1323.869506},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1312.403746},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1312.677535},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1331.11456},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1341.037532},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1352.282695},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1353.688077},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1363.735917},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1370.950448},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1382.269775},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1384.933928},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1391.348937},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1396.204373},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1408.713044},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1424.439846},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1428.593482},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1430.851852}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":63,"firstPeriod":"2021-02-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":65,"coverageRatio":0.9692307692307692,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1341.037532,"endRent":1430.851852,"change":0.06697375566070285,"cagr":0.06697375566070285},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1223.873417,"endRent":1430.851852,"change":0.16911751830295696,"cagr":0.053463248790341034},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1080.542567,"endRent":1430.851852,"change":0.32419757971459906,"cagr":0.05776832518726471}},"maxDrawdown":-0.01528516039058292,"annualizedVolatility":0.02560105458804693,"consecutiveReturnCount":60}}