The distinctive decision question for this Duluth, GA ZIP is whether one current rent signal can frame a unit-size and household-cost review without being mistaken for either a lease quote or an administrative payment standard. The five-digit 30096 label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. In June 2026, Zillow’s ZORI is $1,677 per month, down 0.5% year over year. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, offering a current ZIP benchmark but not the advertised rent, terms, utilities, or availability of any particular home. All later comparisons retain their own source universe, geographic scope, and measurement timing rather than implying direct equivalence.
Bedroom comparison needs a distinct construction. The local FY2026 HUD ladder is an administrative, bedroom-specific FMR/SAFMR standard rather than asking rent; it runs from $1,930 for a studio to $3,160 for four bedrooms, with $2,210 for two bedrooms. Scaling the ZIP ZORI by that local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly ZIP estimates—not measured bedroom rents—of $1,465 for a studio, $1,533 for one bedroom, $1,677 for two, $2,011 for three, and $2,398 for four. The ZIP ZORI is 75.9% of the local two-bedroom HUD standard. That ratio describes two differently purposed measures, not a unit-level price, benefit, or payment.
ZORI should not be merged with the ACS result. The matched ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey reports a $1,822 median gross rent with a $34 90% margin of error. That survey covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities; it is not a current index of observed asking rents. Mechanically, the ZIP ZORI equals 92.0% of the ZCTA median, but that cross-source relationship is not evidence of a current rent change, a property discount, or a discrepancy that must be reconciled. HUD remains separate as an administrative bedroom-specific standard, rather than either gross rent or asking rent.
Household measures supply a separate screen, not a judgment about any renter. The ZCTA’s ACS median household income is $74,656, with a $4,457 margin of error. Annualizing the ZIP ZORI produces $67,080 under a 30% required-income screen, equivalent to a 27.0% asking-rent-to-income ratio; the screen is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. The 16,100 renter-occupied homes account for 57.0% of occupied homes. ACS observed 9,847 renter households with gross-rent burden at or above the stated threshold, or 61.2%, and the count margin of error is 1,033 households. This describes survey respondents collectively, not the burden status of a particular unit.
The ZCTA stock record is a composition check rather than a live inventory count. It estimates 29,496 housing units: 28,260 occupied and 1,236 vacant, yielding a 4.2% vacancy rate. Among vacant units, 787 were classified for rent; that category is not confirmed availability in a specific building. The structure mix contains 15,576 single-family units and 5,667 large-multifamily units. These are housing-stock counts, and the ZIP-wide vacancy rate covers all such units rather than only apartments or only rentals. Neither stock counts nor vacancy composition establish asking rent, condition, or availability for a particular home.
Broader measures provide directional context only, with geographic scope kept explicit. In the Duluth city context, the rent benchmark is $1,689; that city figure is not a ZIP estimate. In Gwinnett County context, the rent benchmark is $1,848, again a county measure rather than a ZIP measure. In the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA metro context, the rent benchmark is $1,854, the two-bedroom HUD standard is $1,820, apartment vacancy is 7.5%, and apartment time on market is 32.3. Metro apartment metrics and every city and county value remain wider-context measures, not evidence about individual properties in the ZIP.
Limits are material. ZORI’s blended rental-type coverage, the ACS ZCTA’s survey design and selected-utilities treatment, and the HUD ladder’s administrative purpose mean none is a lease quote or a measured unit-bedroom series. The ZIP/ZCTA correspondence also does not convert the statistical area into a USPS delivery boundary. For a property-level review, check the address geography, live advertised monthly rent, bedroom count, included and separately billed utilities, fees, lease term, availability, and whether the stated HUD geography is ZIP SAFMR or county-derived. Confirm the source date and definition used for each figure. Those confirmations should be made from current property materials rather than inferred from any ZIP, ZCTA, city, county, or metro aggregate. Do not infer that a vacancy category or aggregate burden observation proves availability, cost, or burden for a particular unit.
","findings":[{"body":"In June 2026, ZIP 30096 ZORI is $1,677 per month and has edged 0.5% lower year over year. It is a current typical observed asking-rent index across rental types. The indicator is useful for a ZIP-level benchmark, but it does not report a particular property’s advertised price, included utilities, available bedroom count, fees, or lease terms.","title":"Current benchmark is not a lease quote"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom amounts are modelled ZIP estimates created by scaling the overall ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are not measured bedroom rents. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard, and its relationship to the Zillow index does not establish a market price, eligibility outcome, or payment amount for any particular apartment or house.","title":"Bedroom figures are modelled"},{"body":"The ACS ZCTA measure is a five-year survey of occupied renter households, uses median gross rent with selected utilities, and reports aggregate burden. Its 30%-or-more burden share is an observed survey statistic, not evidence that a given listing is unaffordable or that an individual household is burdened. Margins of error should accompany interpretation of ACS estimates.","title":"Survey burden differs from a listing outcome"},{"body":"ZCTA vacancy combines housing units across tenure and structure categories, while the metro apartment vacancy metric is a different, wider-scope measure. City, Gwinnett County, and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta metro figures are context only. None provides live inventory for the ZIP or proof that a particular vacant unit is rentable, available, comparable, or offered at the reported benchmark.","title":"Vacancy and context require scope control"}],"risks":["ZORI is a ZIP-wide typical observed asking-rent index, so applying it to a single address without confirming unit type, bedroom count, utilities, fees, lease term, and availability can misstate the live offer.","The ACS ZCTA survey represents occupied renter homes over a five-year period and includes selected utilities in gross rent; it is not a current asking-rent sample, and its margins of error matter.","The bedroom amounts are modelled from ZORI and the local HUD ladder. They should not be presented as measured rents, lease quotes, subsidy amounts, or evidence of what a specific unit will cost.","Vacancy composition, renter burden, and city, county, or metro measures are aggregates with different scopes. They cannot establish that an individual property is vacant, rentable, affordable, or comparable."],"qa":[{"a":"The label is Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the geographic match for the Census ZCTA data used here. A ZCTA is a statistical area built for Census tabulation; it is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. That correspondence supports comparison of the supplied series but does not make their boundaries or populations interchangeable.","q":"What does the ZIP label represent in this report?"},{"a":"Zillow ZORI is a current typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey statistic for occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard. Their values can be displayed together for scope-aware comparison, but they measure different universes and purposes.","q":"Why are Zillow, ACS, and HUD not combined into a single rent?"},{"a":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly ZIP estimates. The method scales the ZIP-wide ZORI according to relative levels in the local HUD bedroom ladder. It does not observe completed leases or advertised rents by bedroom within the ZIP. Therefore the figures clarify the ladder’s implied pattern but cannot verify rent for a particular bedroom count or property.","q":"How were the bedroom figures generated?"},{"a":"Confirm the address geography, current advertised monthly rent, stated bedroom count, whether selected utilities are included or separately billed, recurring and one-time fees, lease term, availability, and source date. Also establish whether the HUD reference is ZIP SAFMR or county-derived. These checks keep an index, survey estimate, and administrative standard from being treated as a unit-specific quote.","q":"What property-level facts should be checked before using these benchmarks?"}],"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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2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"}],"history":[{"period":"2015-01-01","rent":1005.031846},{"period":"2015-02-01","rent":1011.823347},{"period":"2015-03-01","rent":1023.065858},{"period":"2015-04-01","rent":1030.23802},{"period":"2015-05-01","rent":1030.281865},{"period":"2015-06-01","rent":1040.590446},{"period":"2015-07-01","rent":1039.734018},{"period":"2015-08-01","rent":1049.440226},{"period":"2015-09-01","rent":1053.400863},{"period":"2015-10-01","rent":1078.681656},{"period":"2015-11-01","rent":1081.632256},{"period":"2015-12-01","rent":1086.776342},{"period":"2016-01-01","rent":1078.755858},{"period":"2016-02-01","rent":1083.669705},{"period":"2016-03-01","rent":1097.810518},{"period":"2016-04-01","rent":1098.035613},{"period":"2016-05-01","rent":1101.826625},{"period":"2016-06-01","rent":1099.549905},{"period":"2016-07-01","rent":1110.248243},{"period":"2016-08-01","rent":1114.277035},{"period":"2016-09-01","rent":1121.050147},{"period":"2016-10-01","rent":1120.398521},{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1115.76833},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1114.892725},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1118.644782},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1131.753101},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1126.454093},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1142.908155},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1152.635385},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1179.768995},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1181.864804},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1183.718202},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1180.805052},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1173.378893},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1178.414769},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1187.397774},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1199.233381},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1193.079606},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1191.895004},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1186.165997},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1196.783449},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1194.381425},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1207.043541},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1206.332145},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1215.600729},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1216.725093},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":1227.918066},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1225.715717},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1237.530567},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1251.067769},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1262.920135},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1270.127502},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1267.105263},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1266.274635},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1263.345191},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1271.812364},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1273.768157},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1284.82141},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1282.363991},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1286.74967},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1277.150674},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1272.074566},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1290.618836},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1295.582773},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1301.546378},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1306.115579},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1321.393906},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1324.733854},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1326.5242},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1322.795874},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1328.983297},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1352.970277},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1380.544323},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1407.677919},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1431.50636},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1457.209661},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1491.643733},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1530.605211},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1573.910097},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1639.356409},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1704.822141},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1729.419754},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1747.835462},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1729.813517},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1750.141683},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1742.836393},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1755.953466},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1761.125701},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1762.949892},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1756.243055},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1748.827507},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1737.391634},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1736.65721},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1746.428822},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1749.742591},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1750.924228},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1741.887104},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1752.269145},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1755.640995},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1757.825341},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1761.666796},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1766.021712},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1758.587821},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1741.06307},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1720.5229},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1724.327753},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1724.928592},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1740.96322},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1745.057549},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1750.678441},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1742.70308},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1740.112794},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1735.426363},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1733.279167},{"period":"2024-07-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