At June 2026, Zillow ZORI for ZIP market identifier 30252 stands at $2,150 per month, 2.7% above its year-earlier reading. This five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA estimate of median gross rent is $1,995, so the current asking-rent index is 7.8% higher. That gap is an important initial tension, but it does not establish that comparable homes changed by that amount: ZORI represents current typical observed asking rents, whereas the ACS figure reflects occupied renter households accumulated over a survey period.
Backward-looking ZORI history shows continued growth rather than a recent reversal. The exact same-month annualized one-year change is 2.7%, the three-year change is 2.2%, and the five-year change is 4.0%. Thus, the recent direction confirms the longer positive path, although the one-year pace remains below the stronger five-year pace. The record has 138 monthly observations with 100% coverage. At 2.9%, annualized monthly-return variability suggests the index has moved with relatively limited month-to-month turbulence, giving somewhat more confidence that one current index reading reflects the recent path rather than an isolated spike. Separately, the maximum drawdown was 2.3%, a bounded historical decline rather than evidence about future rents. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 1,251 for momentum, 1,338 for stability, and 1,215 for the balanced measure; lower ranks are stronger. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The bedroom ladder translates the ZIP-wide index into modelled estimates rather than measured bedroom rents. Using the local FY2026 HUD ladder to scale ZIP ZORI produces monthly modelled estimates of $1,871 for a studio, $1,964 for one bedroom, $2,150 for two bedrooms, $2,574 for three bedrooms, and $3,080 for four bedrooms. The local HUD two-bedroom FMR is $2,080, placing the modelled two-bedroom estimate 3.4% above that administrative standard. HUD FMR or SAFMR is a bedroom-specific program standard, not asking rent, and the ladder does not identify the rent, size, condition, lease terms, or utility treatment of an individual home.
The income and burden screens point to a split picture. Applying the 30% screen mechanically to the current monthly index produces required annual income of $86,000. The matched ZCTA median household income is $100,770, and the asking-rent-to-income calculation is 25.6%; neither figure is an applicant qualification rule or a measure of any renter's actual budget. In the ACS renter sample, 54.5% of renter households, or 928 of 1,704, were reported as spending at least the burden threshold on gross rent. For wider context only, the McDonough city-scope rent is about $1,847, the Henry County-scope rent is $1,855, and the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA metro-scope rent is $1,854. Those city, county, and metro values are broader-geography context, not substitutes for the ZIP index or evidence about a particular household.
The matched ZCTA housing profile also cautions against treating a ZIP rent index as a direct inventory count. It reports 16,865 housing units and 694 vacant units, a 4.1% vacancy rate. Renter occupancy accounts for 10.5% of occupied housing, while the stock includes 16,190 single-family units and 203 units in large multifamily structures. This composition provides context for the limited renter base behind survey measures, but does not identify which property types are represented in Zillow's blended asking-rent index. The reported vacant-for-rent classification should not be read as proof that no unit is available now, nor can vacancy or burden statistics establish the status or affordability of a particular unit. Sampling uncertainty and the ZCTA boundary also limit address-level interpretation.
Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation describes the for-sale market, not rental transactions. Its median sold price is $413,557, up 3.4% year over year, with 212 homes sold and a median 54 days on market. Redfin reports inventory of 335 homes and 4.8 months of supply. Sale-to-list signals were measured within that resale universe: the average sale-to-list ratio was 98.65%, 13.6% of sales closed above list, and 11.2% went off market within two weeks. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price produces a 6.24% cross-source screening ratio only; it is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. The resale evidence partly challenges a simple rent-strength reading: sold prices rose while asking-rent history stayed positive, yet longer marketing time, supply, and below-list average sales suggest less immediate resale urgency than the rent snapshot alone might imply.
Each source answers a different question. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. The history series measures the prior path of the Zillow index, while Redfin measures direct ZIP resale outcomes and should not be used as rental comparable evidence. Accordingly, the difference between the asking-rent index, gross-rent survey, HUD ladder, and resale screening ratio is not necessarily an inconsistency. It reflects distinct populations, timing, rent definitions, and transaction universes. None of these measures establishes lease terms, operating costs, property condition, or the economics of an individual address.
The practical limits are most important at the property level. An address-level review can confirm the correct ZIP and delivery address, advertised rent, bedroom count, property type, condition, lease duration, fee schedule, utility responsibility, concessions, available date, and active listing status. A resale review can separately verify transaction date, sale type, list price, final price, marketing history, and whether the observed sale is comparable in physical characteristics. Those checks are necessary because the ZCTA is statistical, the rent index is blended, the bedroom figures are modelled, and the resale data are not rental records. The decisive unresolved question is whether the subject property's actual lease and bedroom configuration resemble the ZIP-wide inputs closely enough for these screens to be informative.
","findings":[{"body":"ZIP ZORI increased over the one-year, three-year, and five-year windows, supporting a stable-growth historical classification. Recent growth is faster than the three-year pace but remains below the five-year rate. Low recorded variability and a limited maximum drawdown make the current index more representative of the recent series than a highly erratic index would be, without making it predictive.","title":"Positive rent path, slower than the full five-year pace"},{"body":"The current Zillow asking-rent index exceeds the ACS median gross-rent estimate, but the measures cover different renter populations and timing. ZORI reflects typical observed asking rents across rental types, while ACS reflects occupied renter households and includes selected utilities. The difference should be treated as a source-definition and timing tension rather than proof that any specific lease is over- or under-priced.","title":"Asking-rent and survey-rent measures diverge by design"},{"body":"The matched ZCTA reports a low renter share and a housing stock concentrated in single-family units, with relatively few large multifamily units. Vacancy is a stock-level survey measure, not a real-time rental listing count. The reported composition helps frame the survey evidence but cannot establish the availability, rent, or tenant burden of a particular property.","title":"Renter base is small within a mostly single-family housing profile"},{"body":"Redfin shows sold-price growth and meaningful transaction volume, but its marketing time, supply level, and average below-list sale-to-list result indicate a resale market with negotiation and time exposure. This for-sale evidence does not contradict positive rent history, yet it challenges any attempt to infer immediate resale strength or property economics from the asking-rent index.","title":"Resale liquidity is less urgent than rent growth alone may suggest"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI, ACS gross rent, HUD standards, and Redfin resale records cover different populations, dates, and definitions. Combining them without preserving those boundaries can create false comparisons about any individual rental home.","The matched Census ZCTA is a statistical geography rather than a USPS delivery ZIP, and ACS estimates are survey-based. Housing, renter-share, vacancy, income, and burden figures therefore should not be treated as address-level facts.","Bedroom figures are modelled by scaling the ZIP-wide ZORI with the local HUD ladder. They are not observed rents and may differ materially from a unit's size, condition, utility treatment, fees, lease terms, or concessions.","The Redfin rent-price screen divides annualized asking rent by a resale median, so it omits expenses, financing, taxes, maintenance, vacancy experience, and property-specific quality. It cannot support claims about cap rate, yield, or expected return."],"qa":[{"a":"The five-digit label serves as both Zillow's ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match in this packet, but the geographies are not identical. A ZCTA is a statistical area designed for Census tabulation, whereas a USPS delivery ZIP is an operational mail-delivery geography. ACS results therefore provide matched-area context rather than address-specific ZIP delivery evidence.","q":"Why does the report distinguish ZIP 30252 from the ZCTA?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates created by scaling the ZIP-wide Zillow ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They should not be interpreted as measured rents for available units. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not a direct asking-rent survey or lease dataset.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures observed rents for local units?"},{"a":"It is arithmetic based on the current monthly asking-rent index: annualized rent divided by 30%. The resulting income figure is not advice, a tenant-screening criterion, or an applicant qualification rule. The ACS burden share separately describes surveyed occupied renter households reporting gross-rent burdens at or above the threshold, not the burden of a specific unit.","q":"What does the 30% required-income screen mean?"},{"a":"It is only a cross-source screen calculated by dividing annualized ZIP ZORI by Redfin's median sold price. Redfin's observation is a direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale dataset, not rental transaction evidence. The ratio excludes property expenses and financing, so it is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, property yield, or valuation conclusion.","q":"How should the Redfin resale 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":"2015-01-01","rent":1065.763167},{"period":"2015-02-01","rent":1065.31208},{"period":"2015-03-01","rent":1069.804659},{"period":"2015-04-01","rent":1067.992639},{"period":"2015-05-01","rent":1074.535593},{"period":"2015-06-01","rent":1079.605066},{"period":"2015-07-01","rent":1082.13709},{"period":"2015-08-01","rent":1082.991333},{"period":"2015-09-01","rent":1087.777554},{"period":"2015-10-01","rent":1112.044984},{"period":"2015-11-01","rent":1121.432785},{"period":"2015-12-01","rent":1136.233074},{"period":"2016-01-01","rent":1138.251814},{"period":"2016-02-01","rent":1131.738345},{"period":"2016-03-01","rent":1125.364346},{"period":"2016-04-01","rent":1123.850017},{"period":"2016-05-01","rent":1139.388382},{"period":"2016-06-01","rent":1136.792549},{"period":"2016-07-01","rent":1151.261211},{"period":"2016-08-01","rent":1148.225508},{"period":"2016-09-01","rent":1154.553978},{"period":"2016-10-01","rent":1139.705175},{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1129.732799},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1131.728677},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1143.149835},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1171.814952},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1187.815325},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1188.463563},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1181.063264},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1185.77211},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1206.523738},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1221.347458},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1229.522817},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1239.82526},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1248.55159},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1261.441489},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1249.935956},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1254.177801},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1249.289882},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1267.168862},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1281.82061},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1293.470152},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1298.140215},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1301.738316},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1316.219338},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1320.711545},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":1330.911051},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1322.947978},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1350.687026},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1355.20654},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1370.178161},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1374.119506},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1381.022531},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1388.282252},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1388.7703},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1397.803606},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1399.548734},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1412.419378},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1421.038586},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1438.950879},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1438.966145},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1445.608273},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1447.775943},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1446.2431},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1441.790553},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1454.132712},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1485.038247},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1521.055957},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1553.215945},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1575.013458},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1580.980539},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1608.755004},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1627.088841},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1662.983644},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1666.619224},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1689.909672},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1739.801505},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1763.345403},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1766.743401},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1767.607965},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1785.809762},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1820.576669},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1854.105362},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1868.717872},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1884.385405},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1867.941021},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1881.52403},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1887.163931},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1892.228174},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1900.800104},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1938.782081},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1964.693038},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1969.372313},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1959.631341},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1964.159798},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1982.777925},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1972.522614},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1987.078673},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1995.58047},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":2015.145637},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":2017.273542},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":2011.127171},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1996.762368},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1972.245364},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1975.813158},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1978.548901},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1977.459575},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1970.937708},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":2010.802602},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":2035.227241},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":2050.756491},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":2041.750122},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":2037.273347},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":2050.172229},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2036.992249},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2045.657337},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2050.32021},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":2038.007449},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":2044.116412},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":2039.411605},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":2062.245136},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":2081.020581},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":2087.201667},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":2086.951734},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":2094.22394},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":2093.699548},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":2118.467207},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":2132.95624},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":2139.557551},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":2161.230606},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":2166.702596},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":2180.740199},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":2154.614418},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":2135.848311},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":2131.439305},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":2141.522254},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":2146.62702},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":2149.533508}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":138,"firstPeriod":"2015-01-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":138,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2093.699548,"endRent":2149.533508,"change":0.026667608565581924,"cagr":0.026667608565581924},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2011.127171,"endRent":2149.533508,"change":0.06882028098261905,"cagr":0.02243308716031578},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1763.345403,"endRent":2149.533508,"change":0.21900876841427297,"cagr":0.040402449236047966}},"maxDrawdown":-0.02296953439148408,"annualizedVolatility":0.028501937669568,"consecutiveReturnCount":137}}