In June 2026, ZIP 19131 begins with a split signal: the current asking-rent index is rising while the direct ZIP resale series has a year-over-year decline. Zillow ZORI stands at $1,683 per month, 4.47% above its year-earlier reading. It is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than the quoted rent for a standardized available home. This label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a match to a Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Those geography and measurement boundaries matter before using the current index as a unit-level comparable or blending it with a for-sale observation.
History supports an upward but nonuniform rental path. The exact same-month annualized ZORI changes are 4.47% over one year, 4.01% over three years, and 4.69% over five years. The latest direction therefore confirms, rather than breaks from, the longer positive path, although it trails the five-year pace. The history has 100% coverage. Annualized monthly-return variability is 3.29%, and the maximum drawdown was a 3.16% decline. Transparent national discovery ranks are 531 for momentum, 2,024 for stability, and 927 for the balanced measure, where lower ranks are higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations; the variability and lower stability placement mean a single current rent snapshot deserves measured confidence.
The current ZORI and the survey rent deliberately answer different questions. In the matched Census ZCTA, the ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent is $1,375; it is a survey measure of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The asking index is 22.4% above that median. This does not establish an error or a premium for any unit: one figure is a typical observed asking-rent index across rental types, while the other reflects surveyed occupied homes, different timing, a median calculation, and utility treatment. They are complementary benchmarks, not interchangeable rent comparables.
Bedroom comparisons require yet another evidence universe. The FY2026 HUD FMR/SAFMR ladder is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,300 for a studio, $1,412 for one bedroom, $1,683 for two bedrooms, $2,020 for three bedrooms, and $2,253 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and they do not show a unit’s availability, lease terms, utilities, condition, or concessions. Their value is a transparent size adjustment around the ZIP index rather than evidence that every home at a given bedroom count asks that amount.
Income and burden readings make the rent path harder to translate into household capacity. Annualizing the current index gives a $67,320 income screen at 30%, versus the ACS median household income of $48,393; the index-to-income arithmetic is 41.7%. The required-income screen is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Separately, the ACS ZCTA estimates that 6,033 of 10,978 renter households, or 55.0%, paid at or above that threshold toward rent. That survey burden describes an area-level distribution, with survey uncertainty, and is not proof of affordability, payment history, or terms for a particular household or unit.
Stock adds context without converting vacancy into a leasing conclusion. The ZCTA reports 3,272 vacant housing units, a 14.21% vacancy rate, and a housing mix in which single-family units outnumber large multifamily units. These are area-level survey counts, not evidence that a particular unit is available, suitable, or negotiable. For wider context only, City of Philadelphia scope has a $1,813.93 context rent, Philadelphia County scope has a $1,814 context rent, and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro scope has a $1,928 context rent; all three exceed the ZIP index. City, county, and metro figures remain wider-scope context rather than ZIP substitutes.
At the June 30, 2026 endpoint, Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation records a $212,452 median sold price, down 1.19% from a year earlier, with 86 homes sold and 59 median days on market. Its inventory measure is 155 homes and months of supply is 5.4. The average sale-to-list result is 97.68%, while 23.83% of sales closed above list. These are for-sale market and resale-liquidity signals, not rental transactions or rental comparables. The lower resale price and below-list average challenge a one-direction reading of the rising asking-rent history and income screen; the data do not identify a cause or resolve the difference.
One cross-source calculation is available but narrow: annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the Redfin median sold price equals 9.51%. This is a screening ratio only, not an estimate of property cash flow or transaction performance. It inherits the mismatch between an asking-rent index, a survey gross-rent benchmark, administrative HUD standards, and aggregate resale data. A property-level file would need current asking date, exact bedroom count, utility inclusions, concessions, lease length, physical condition, and directly comparable sale timing and characteristics. The unresolved question is whether a specific home’s documented terms can reconcile these separate benchmarks without assuming that any area-level measure applies to that home.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow's current ZIP index of $1,683 is 4.47% higher than a year earlier. The exact same-month three-year and five-year changes, 4.01% and 4.69%, show that the latest move remains inside a longer positive record. Because annualized variability is 3.29% and the maximum drawdown reached 3.16%, this history is context for a snapshot, not a prediction.","title":"Rent trend holds, but is not uniform"},{"body":"The $67,320 annual income implied by a 30% screen exceeds the ACS median household income of $48,393. The area survey also estimates that 55.0% of renter households are burdened at that threshold or more. These are population-level arithmetic and survey indicators, not a lease decision, applicant qualification rule, or proof of payment capacity for any specific household.","title":"Affordability screen exceeds the income midpoint"},{"body":"ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD standards should not be collapsed into one rent measure. ZORI is a blended asking-rent index; ACS reports a five-year occupied-renter survey median that includes selected utilities; HUD uses bedroom-specific administrative standards. The modelled ladder applies HUD relationships to ZORI and is not measured bedroom asking rent, so unit amenities and lease terms still require separate verification.","title":"Rent measures serve separate purposes"},{"body":"Redfin's direct ZIP rolling-three-month resale record shows a $212,452 median sold price, down 1.19% year over year, alongside 5.4 months of supply and a 97.68% average sale-to-list result. Those for-sale conditions do not measure leases. Their contrast with the upward rent index is a useful cross-source tension, but it cannot establish transaction-level economics or a causal explanation.","title":"Resale evidence complicates a rent-only reading"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI blends rental types and summarizes observed asking rents, whereas ACS gross rent surveys occupied homes with selected utilities; a difference between them cannot be assigned to a particular listing.","ACS household income, burden, vacancy, and structure data are ZCTA five-year estimates with sampling uncertainty. The ZCTA geography is statistical and not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.","Redfin figures aggregate direct ZIP resale outcomes over a rolling three-month period. They omit property-specific condition, financing, concessions, and closing circumstances, so they cannot price an individual rental or sale.","HUD-scaled bedroom figures are modelled estimates anchored to the ZIP index. Utility treatment, furnishing, renovation, exact bedroom configuration, lease term, and availability can make a specific offering materially different."],"qa":[{"a":"The two sources observe different universes. Zillow ZORI is a current typical asking-rent index across blended rental types, while ACS is a five-year survey median for occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. The reported gap therefore measures a definitional and timing difference as well as a price-level difference; it does not establish a unit premium.","q":"Why is Zillow ZORI above the ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures scale the ZIP ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than observed asking rent. The outputs are modelled estimates useful for a transparent size comparison, but they do not report what any actual studio, one-bedroom, or larger home was offered for.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures measured rents for available homes?"},{"a":"No. The Redfin series is a direct rolling-three-month observation of ZIP for-sale and resale activity. Median price, days on market, inventory, months of supply, and sale-to-list results remain in the for-sale universe. They provide a resale backdrop and a tension with rent measures, but they are neither rental transactions nor property-specific rental comparables.","q":"Does the Redfin block describe the rental market?"},{"a":"The 30% calculation divides the annualized ZIP ZORI by 0.30 to show an arithmetic income benchmark. It is not underwriting, advice, or an applicant qualification standard. The ACS burden share is also an area survey statistic; it does not reveal a particular household’s income, utilities, lease concessions, or capacity to pay.","q":"How should the 30% income screen be interpreted?"}],"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":"2016-08-01","rent":1003.536236},{"period":"2016-09-01","rent":1032.295251},{"period":"2016-10-01","rent":1040.274778},{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1048.796278},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1060.539494},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1055.614184},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1056.833564},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1037.267497},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1065.727841},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1069.54998},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1103.812369},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1099.398887},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1093.659898},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1087.707198},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1091.998843},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1104.970792},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1094.453123},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1085.831406},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1079.995033},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1098.020811},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1108.59144},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1142.060202},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1133.238059},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1117.857912},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1105.950483},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1123.713888},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1143.631707},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":1144.200345},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1154.019186},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1169.071662},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1181.148267},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1182.750051},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1170.833101},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1159.050667},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1164.487226},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1188.047366},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1205.86381},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1198.881433},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1188.656522},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1188.821743},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1192.606055},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1194.315077},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1194.827479},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1185.105854},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1179.972392},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1174.735343},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1175.15056},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1188.883891},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1201.636823},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1217.826946},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1238.809565},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1245.285819},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1261.484791},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1264.585792},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1275.318465},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1296.311197},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1315.18145},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1327.891754},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1338.06867},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1343.632386},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1346.079837},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1346.73983},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1344.477365},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1361.836823},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1379.72514},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1400.108328},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1409.222059},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1414.027313},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1419.372009},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1443.348994},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1443.424357},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1456.389285},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1450.25225},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1460.953741},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1457.577577},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1460.351778},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1430.46313},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1444.392935},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1449.011972},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1471.130085},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1464.636485},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1475.310201},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1495.602512},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1491.460931},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1485.831643},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1491.199946},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1516.520421},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1539.779822},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1550.017478},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1540.724422},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1545.593294},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1562.617541},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1588.376694},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1584.544171},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1573.395648},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1576.485379},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1580.239503},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1593.227874},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1597.749669},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1595.991472},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1605.962842},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1598.641959},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1607.305787},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1598.49949},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1609.167004},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1603.294105},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1610.761076},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1619.791668},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1633.071722},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1630.334657},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1627.118147},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1627.982273},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1633.311257},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1652.30209},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1654.855606},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1661.728243},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1655.682035},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1673.063068},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1682.693452}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":119,"firstPeriod":"2016-08-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":119,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1610.761076,"endRent":1682.693452,"change":0.044657384060105,"cagr":0.044657384060105},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1495.602512,"endRent":1682.693452,"change":0.12509402631974176,"cagr":0.040070885922696586},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1338.06867,"endRent":1682.693452,"change":0.257553883239789,"cagr":0.04690029100740811}},"maxDrawdown":-0.03161805212786828,"annualizedVolatility":0.03286988190953915,"consecutiveReturnCount":118}}