The five-digit label 29483 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match, but the central tension is a current index that has accelerated from its medium-term pace without overtaking its longer-run pace. At the June 2026 endpoint, Zillow ZORI is $1,878 per month. It is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a quote for every unit. Exact same-month history shows a 5.58% one-year change, a 3.12% annualized three-year change, and a 6.19% annualized five-year change. Recent direction therefore confirms a positive longer path and accelerates from the three-year cadence, while remaining short of the five-year pace. Those backward-looking measurements are not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Comparisons need separate evidence universes. The ACS comparison uses the matched Census ZCTA, a statistical area rather than a USPS delivery ZIP and therefore not identical to one; its 2024 five-year survey covers occupied renter homes. Its median gross rent is $1,378 and includes selected utilities, so it trails the ZORI by 36.3%; survey timing, occupied-home coverage, and utility treatment make that gap non-interchangeable with a current asking-rent spread. The supplied ACS field also carries sampling uncertainty. The available local HUD FY2026 FMR/SAFMR two-bedroom standard is $1,510. HUD is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard—not asking rent—and ZORI is 24.4% above that standard. Neither benchmark establishes an advertised price for an individual home.
For a bedroom view, the local HUD ladder scales the ZIP ZORI into modelled monthly estimates: $1,642 for a studio, $1,716 for one bedroom, $1,878 for two bedrooms, $2,338 for three bedrooms, and $2,686 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents. The scaling preserves the local HUD bedroom relationship while anchoring its level to the ZIP’s blended ZORI; it does not observe a matched set of listings by bedroom count. A unit can differ because the index covers blended rental types and the HUD ladder is a standard, not a local asking-rent sample. Use the ladder as a consistent sizing frame, not a substitute for a property’s advertised terms.
The monthly ZIP index produces a $75,120 annual income screen at 30% of gross income. That arithmetic is not advice, an applicant qualification rule, or a statement about any household’s budget. The matched ZCTA’s median household income is $85,750, making the index-to-income calculation 26.3%; this is a broad household-income comparison, not renter-income evidence. Separately, ACS reports 2,462 of 4,751 renter households with gross-rent burden at or above 30%, a 51.8% group estimate. That burden rate describes surveyed occupied renter homes and cannot prove affordability, payment stress, or utility treatment for a particular unit.
The matched ZCTA has 23,728 housing units, of which 1,533 are vacant, yielding a 6.46% all-unit vacancy rate; that leaves the balance occupied in the survey snapshot. The count specifically coded vacant for rent is 488. These are stock-level measures across the ZCTA rather than a contemporaneous inventory of available listings. They do not identify lease-ready condition, asking price, bedroom mix, or the vacancy status of a particular property. The evidence can therefore describe the scale of stock and the broad vacancy mix, but it cannot turn an aggregate vacancy count into proof that an individual unit is available or negotiable.
Wider geography gives a different scale, not a replacement benchmark. In the same comparison, Summerville city context rent is $1,896, Dorchester County context rent is $1,760, and Charleston–North Charleston, SC metro context rent is $2,066. These city-, county-, and metro-scope values must remain named as wider context: they are not ZIP-level observations, are not a property-comparable set, and should not be blended into the ZIP index. The ZIP figure sits between the county reading and the city and metro readings, a useful orientation only. It says nothing by itself about the features, lease terms, or availability of a given rental.
Confidence in the current index should rest on coverage and variability, not on direction alone. The history contains 138 monthly observations and 137 consecutive returns through the stated endpoint, with 100% recorded coverage, annualized monthly-return variability of 2.38%, and a maximum drawdown of -2.14%. Its transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 553 for momentum, 503 for stability, and 156 for the balanced measure; lower rank is higher. These are backward-looking discovery measurements, not forecasts, valuations, or investment recommendations. The full record and limited past decline support use of the index as a historical reference, but the variability and blended coverage limit confidence in any single rent snapshot. For a property-level check, does the actual asking rent align with the bedroom count, lease term, utilities, fees or concessions, condition, and availability being offered?
","findings":[{"body":"At the June 2026 endpoint, the ZIP-level ZORI is $1,878. The one-year exact same-month increase exceeds the annualized three-year pace, which supports the accelerating history label. Yet it remains below the annualized five-year pace. The record is positive across each horizon, but the mixed pace comparison means recent acceleration should be read as a backward-looking pattern, not a forward projection.","title":"Acceleration is real but incomplete"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD FMR/SAFMR answer different questions. ZORI follows typical observed asking rents across blended rental types. ACS reflects occupied renter homes over a five-year survey and includes selected utilities. HUD supplies administrative bedroom-specific standards. Their gaps cannot identify a listing’s market rent, quality, lease terms, or utility package.","title":"The rent benchmarks are not interchangeable"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates, formed by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder. They are useful for a consistent relative size frame, but are not a measurement of bedroom-specific asking rents. They should not be used to infer that every same-bedroom property, including a particular listing, has the modelled rent or its implied bedroom premium.","title":"Bedroom values are a modelling framework"},{"body":"ACS reports a substantial group-level share of renter households spending at least 30% of income on gross rent, while the index-to-income screen sits below that threshold using ZCTA-wide median household income. These measures cannot be applied to an applicant. Income source, household composition, recurring charges, utility responsibility, and the actual rent must be checked at property level.","title":"Aggregate burden does not determine household affordability"}],"risks":["An aggregate asking-rent index may not represent the advertised rent for a particular home because it blends rental types and does not establish condition, concessions, fees, utilities, or lease length.","ACS gross rent is an older survey measure for occupied renter homes, while the current ZORI measures typical asks; the numerical gap can reflect definitions and timing rather than a direct market spread.","Vacancy and rent-burden measures describe groups or inventories at the ZCTA level. They cannot show whether an individual property is vacant, affordable to a household, lease-ready, or available at its advertised price.","Complete historical coverage and a limited recorded drawdown strengthen the continuity of the history series, but monthly-return variability and discovery ranks do not establish future rent direction or investment performance."],"qa":[{"a":"The figures use different universes and periods. ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent describes occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA and includes selected utilities. Zillow ZORI is a current ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index across blended rental types. The difference is informative context, but it is not a price quote or a like-for-like comparison.","q":"Why is the ACS rent lower than the Zillow index?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard and not asking rent. The estimates provide a consistent relative-size frame, but listings can differ, so the actual bedroom count and advertised terms need property-level verification.","q":"Are the bedroom figures measured rents?"},{"a":"It divides the annualized ZIP index by 30% to produce an arithmetic income screen. It is not affordability advice, a credit policy, or an applicant qualification rule. The comparison with median household income is ZCTA-wide and does not identify renter income, a household’s expenses, utility responsibility, or its capacity to pay for a given unit.","q":"What does the 30% required-income figure mean?"},{"a":"The historical series has continuous monthly coverage and relatively limited maximum drawdown, which makes it a useful record of the index’s past movement. However, annualized monthly-return variability, source blending, and property differences limit what a single current snapshot can establish. The history supports contextual comparison, not a forecast, valuation, or conclusion about a listing.","q":"How much weight should a reader place on the current rent snapshot?"}],"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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