At the supplied June 2026 endpoint, ZIP 20910’s current Zillow ZORI is $2,062 per month, 2.57% below its year-earlier reading. The five-digit label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the match to a Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, making it a market-level asking-rent signal rather than a quoted rent for every available home. The rent decline creates a rental-side cooling signal, but does not by itself describe tenant bills, unit availability, or sale-market pricing.
Backward-looking history explains why that annual decline is more of a break than a continuation. Exact same-month ZORI changes were −2.57% over one year, +0.03% annualized over three years, and +2.56% annualized over five years. June’s direction therefore reverses the longer positive five-year path and is weaker than the nearly flat three-year path; it is not a forecast. Coverage is 100% through 114 observations. Monthly-return variability, annualized, comes to 2.23%; that contained fluctuation supports more confidence in one current snapshot than a highly variable series would. Separately, maximum drawdown reached 6.79%, documenting a meaningful past retreat and limiting confidence that the current level is fixed. The transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 2,720 for momentum, 320 for stability, and 1,976 for balanced history; a lower rank places higher. Those backward-looking measurements are not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey reports a $2,022 median gross rent. Read beside the current Zillow value, that proximity is a check rather than a substitution: ACS is a survey of occupied renter homes, and its gross-rent concept includes selected utilities; ZORI captures observed asking rents. HUD’s FMR/SAFMR local ladder is different again—an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Source date, population coverage, utility treatment, and rental-type mix differ across these inputs, preventing all three rent concepts from acting as interchangeable unit comparables.
For bedroom-oriented comparisons, the ZIP index is mechanically scaled using the local HUD ladder. The resulting modelled monthly estimates are $1,790 for a studio, $1,846 for one bedroom, $2,062 for two bedrooms, $2,605 for three bedrooms, and $3,061 for four bedrooms. The corresponding FY2026 HUD standards are $2,240, $2,310, $2,580, $3,260, and $3,830. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents: the method preserves HUD’s local bedroom step-up pattern while anchoring it to ZIP ZORI. Actual listings can differ by unit condition, lease terms, square footage, included utilities, concessions, and timing, none of which the ladder observes.
An arithmetic 30% screen puts the annual household income associated with the current asking-rent index at $82,480. The ZCTA’s median household income was $112,134, but that aggregate comparison is not a measure of any applicant’s income or payment obligations. The screen is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. In the ACS renter survey, 47.32% of renter households reported gross-rent burdens at or above 30%. That burden statistic describes surveyed occupied households over the ACS period; it does not establish affordability for a new applicant or prove that any particular vacant unit is burdensome.
The matched ZCTA housing base shows why a single rent index cannot stand in for inventory. It has 23,517 housing units and a 5.93% all-unit vacancy rate. Stock includes 13,968 units in large multifamily structures and 7,021 single-family units, while renters form a majority of occupied homes. In wider context, the Silver Spring city rent context is $1,966, the Montgomery County rent context is $2,346, and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro rent context is $2,448. Those city, county, and metro values are context only, not direct ZIP results, and their geographies and vacancy definitions should not be assumed to match the ZCTA measures.
Redfin’s direct rolling three-month ZIP resale observation is strictly for-sale evidence, not rental transactions. It reports a median sold price of $727,336, up 3.91% year over year, with 88 homes sold and a 31-day median marketing time. The observation shows an inventory count of 116 homes and 4.0 months of supply. Sale-to-list signals were near parity: the average ratio was 99.95%, while 29.10% of sales closed above list and 39.86% went off market within two weeks. The 3.40% annualized-ZORI-to-median-price figure divides annualized ZIP ZORI by median sold price only and is a cross-source screening ratio, not property economics. The resale price increase challenges a simple cooling reading from the rent decline and history, while remaining neither a rental comparable nor evidence about rental transactions.
Every observation is time-stamped and source-bounded: Zillow reflects a ZIP asking-rent index, the Census result reflects surveyed occupied homes in a statistical ZCTA, HUD supplies an administrative standard, and Redfin reports completed ZIP resale activity. Neither vacancy nor the burden statistic proves anything about a specific unit, and neither rent history nor the resale screening ratio predicts a future result. Concrete property-level checks include the live advertised rent, concession treatment, bedroom count, square footage, lease length, utility inclusions, recurring fees, availability date, and whether sale comparables match property type, condition, sale date, and list-price history. Which observed measure actually matches the unit and decision being evaluated?
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow’s current ZIP asking-rent index declined over the latest same-month interval after a positive longer lookback, while the direct ZIP resale median increased. That divergence is the central decision tension. The rent index and sold-price series observe different markets, so neither result converts the other into a rent comparable, value estimate, or future path.","title":"Cooling rent signal meets firmer resale record"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI reflects a blend of observed asking rents across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard. Nearness between aggregate figures can aid a consistency check, but these measures do not define the same rent, household, lease status, or utility exposure.","title":"Rent measures have separate universes"},{"body":"The matched ZCTA contains a renter-majority occupied base and a substantial large-multifamily component, alongside an all-unit vacancy statistic. Those aggregate counts frame market composition, but cannot establish the availability, price, condition, or suitability of any advertised residence. Wider city, county, and metro references remain context, with different geographic boundaries and potentially different rental or vacancy definitions.","title":"Renter-majority stock does not establish unit availability"},{"body":"The rolling resale record provides sale price, transaction pace, marketing, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list evidence tied directly to ZIP resale activity. It is useful for identifying divergence from rent movement, yet it does not create rental comparables. The annual-rent-to-price quotient is a cross-source screen; property-specific expenses, financing, and physical attributes are not represented.","title":"Resale liquidity is direct ZIP evidence, not rental evidence"}],"risks":["A blended asking-rent index can be affected by the mix of properties represented in the index. It cannot establish the actual advertised rent, concession, fee schedule, or included utilities for a chosen unit.","ACS estimates summarize a five-year survey and carry sampling uncertainty, while the ZCTA boundary is statistical rather than postal. A current listing can differ from the survey result by timing, utilities, household mix, and lease status.","The renter-burden share reflects surveyed occupied households over a multiyear period, while vacancy measures describe stock categories. Neither statistic establishes an individual household’s payment burden or whether a particular apartment is available.","Resale measures come from recent sales and listings, while annual rent divided by sold price joins separate source universes. That quotient omits unit traits and property-level cash flows, so it cannot stand alone."],"qa":[{"a":"Zillow reports a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index across rental types. ACS reports a median from occupied renter households in the matched statistical ZCTA and includes selected utilities. Similar aggregate values can therefore coexist even when the sampled homes, timing, utility treatment, and lease status differ.","q":"Why can the asking-rent index and ACS gross rent be close without meaning the same thing?"},{"a":"They are modelled estimates produced by taking the ZIP-wide ZORI and applying relative steps from the local HUD bedroom ladder. This preserves a local bedroom-size pattern but does not observe actual studio or bedroom-specific lease transactions. Listing-level size, condition, utilities, concessions, and timing can therefore produce different asking rents.","q":"How were the bedroom-oriented figures created?"},{"a":"The income figure simply annualizes the ZIP asking-rent index and divides by the stated share of income. It does not measure an applicant’s earnings, savings, debts, household size, or actual utility bills. The ACS burden statistic describes surveyed occupied renter households and cannot establish a particular household’s burden or a vacant unit’s affordability.","q":"What does the 30% income screen indicate?"},{"a":"Redfin describes recent for-sale activity within the direct ZIP resale observation, including price and liquidity signals, whereas Zillow tracks asking rents. A sale-price gain can coexist with a rent decline because transaction type, property mix, and timing differ. The combined rent-to-price figure only screens across sources and does not supply property-specific economics.","q":"How should the resale price increase be read beside the rent decline?"}],"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 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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":"2017-01-01","rent":1740.776643},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1746.786535},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1743.000648},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1769.067299},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1774.91821},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1781.577056},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1757.951633},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1763.522058},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1772.326416},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1791.437969},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1795.696277},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1788.772066},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1779.543861},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1788.032358},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1796.772789},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1799.898922},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1800.506354},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1827.37119},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1836.490392},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1844.374381},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1834.076381},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1832.218169},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":1837.526586},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1841.148582},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1852.874408},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1853.977703},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1862.217228},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1853.388987},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1863.488208},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1850.562584},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1866.903403},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1865.582667},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1879.016201},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1880.47912},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1883.767254},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1893.085702},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1896.351422},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1901.563524},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1877.832635},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1884.370995},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1867.435124},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1861.358942},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1833.006562},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1821.617529},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1794.785145},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1779.373855},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1772.484796},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1783.586534},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1797.03284},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1804.455453},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1802.855911},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1793.917721},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1797.789078},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1817.078762},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1850.525275},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1880.655899},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1910.550062},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1936.858762},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1963.550288},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1971.416091},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1966.980374},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1950.940376},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1953.187702},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1971.301576},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1997.447158},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":2008.760681},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":2018.667981},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":2021.218085},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":2018.262256},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":2013.154892},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":2000.613424},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1996.143255},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1999.234578},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":2025.440575},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":2048.522839},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":2062.776721},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":2061.0993},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":2060.5719},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":2057.010621},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":2055.183649},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":2062.132498},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":2064.797491},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":2067.675641},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":2071.778896},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":2088.463312},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":2105.187484},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":2111.46896},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":2112.524115},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":2109.808731},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":2114.028545},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2109.289463},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2113.287971},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2115.498349},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":2124.072709},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":2123.474755},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":2130.223665},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":2124.380703},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":2123.116246},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":2126.488486},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":2132.19268},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":2124.968583},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":2116.736447},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":2123.815948},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":2124.017225},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":2121.189712},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":2115.062401},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":2116.068672},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":2108.97526},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":2103.253684},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":2089.084578},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":2075.817811},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":2063.697131},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":2064.641078},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":2062.280253}],"historySummary"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