At June 2026, Zillow ZIP market identifier 33401 shows a ZIP ZORI of $2,676 per month, up 5.9% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a lease-level rent for one specific home. The five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. For wider context only, the City of West Palm Beach rent figure is $2,391.50, the Palm Beach County rent figure is $2,662, and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL metro rent figure is $2,695. Thus, the ZIP’s current asking-rent index sits above city context but near county and metro context.
The matched Census ZCTA offers a different housing universe. Its ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent was $1,776, with a $82 margin of error; this is a survey measure of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. It is not a current asking-rent series. The current Zillow index is 50.7% above that ACS median, a sizable source-and-population difference that should not be read as a simple rent increase for an identical set of homes. The ACS measure can include households with older leases, different unit types, and utility treatment unlike advertised rents, while ZORI is designed to characterize current observed asking rents across rental types.
The bedroom view is a set of modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder produces monthly estimates of $2,051 for a studio, $2,180 for one bedroom, $2,676 for two bedrooms, $3,587 for three bedrooms, and $4,144 for four bedrooms. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent, so its role here is to provide the relative ladder used in the model. The estimates are useful for showing the implied size gradient within this ZIP index, but they do not establish what any available studio, apartment, townhouse, or house is actually advertised for.
The affordability tension is more pronounced than the current regional rent comparison. A household would need $107,040 in annual income for the $2,676 monthly Zillow index to equal 30% of income, versus the matched ZCTA ACS median household income of $67,967. The resulting annualized asking-rent-to-income screen is 47.2%. This 30% screen is arithmetic only: it is neither advice nor an applicant qualification rule. ACS also reports that 57.5% of renter households paid at least 30% of income toward gross rent. That burden measure concerns occupied renter households and selected-utility gross rent, so it supports an area-level affordability signal but cannot prove the burden or affordability of a particular available unit.
Housing stock provides important context for that signal. The ACS ZCTA contains 19,841 housing units, of which 4,145 were vacant, implying a 20.9% vacancy rate. Renters occupied 62.5% of occupied homes, and the structure mix is led by large multifamily buildings rather than being exclusively single-family stock. Vacancy categories include units classified for rent, for sale, and seasonal use, among others; consequently, the area vacancy measure is not an inventory count of homes immediately rentable at the Zillow index. It nevertheless means that a high current asking-rent index should be read alongside a stock profile with substantial reported vacancy rather than as proof of uniformly constrained unit availability.
The backward-looking ZORI path is positive but not uniformly stable. Exact same-month annualized changes were 5.9% over one year, 2.7% over three years, and 7.6% over five years. Recent appreciation therefore exceeds the slower three-year pace, yet remains below the longer five-year pace; the latest direction partly restores momentum rather than confirming a single uninterrupted acceleration. Monthly rent changes produced 4.3% annualized variability, which lowers confidence in treating one current ZORI print as a precise, permanent level. Separately, the maximum historical drawdown was 4.4%, demonstrating that the index has retreated from prior peaks. Coverage is 100% across 138 observations. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs place momentum at 629, stability at 2,705, and the balanced measure at 1,579; these are discovery aids, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Direct ZIP resale evidence introduces a second tension. In Redfin’s rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation, the median sold price was $569,871, up 10.1% year over year, with 194 homes sold and a median 98 days on market. Active listings numbered 605, inventory was 337 homes and down 7.8% year over year, and months of supply stood at 5.3. The average sale-to-list ratio was 93.4%, while 4.2% of sales closed above list and 13.3% went off market within two weeks. These are resale-market observations, not rental transactions or rental comparables. Higher sold prices confirm an elevated resale price side, but lengthy marketing time, below-list sales, and moderate supply challenge any reading that current rent momentum alone signals uniformly tight market conditions.
Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the Redfin median sold price produces a 5.6% cross-source screening ratio only. It is not a cap rate, property yield, net return, or expected return, because it excludes operating costs, financing, taxes, insurance, vacancy experience, renovation needs, and unit-specific rent. The evidence also carries timing and geography limits: Zillow reflects ZIP asking-rent indexing, ACS reflects the matched ZCTA’s occupied households, HUD supplies an administrative bedroom ladder, and Redfin reports direct ZIP resale activity. A property-level review should verify the actual advertised rent, bedroom count, included utilities, lease terms, concessions, availability, and whether the address fits the relevant ZIP and ZCTA mapping. Does the specific unit’s current advertisement support the modelled size estimate and affordability arithmetic?
","findings":[{"body":"The ZIP’s Zillow asking-rent index is above the City of West Palm Beach context figure while remaining close to Palm Beach County and metro context. That relative alignment does not reconcile it with the ACS median gross-rent result, because the two series cover different populations, timing, utility treatment, and rental concepts. The gap is best treated as a current-market versus occupied-household tension.","title":"Current asking rent is regionally aligned but materially above occupied-home gross rent"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are derived by scaling the ZIP-wide ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD standards are administrative and bedroom-specific, while Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index. The resulting ladder makes the implied size relationship transparent, but it cannot replace unit-level advertised rents, concessions, utility terms, or property-specific bedroom verification.","title":"The bedroom schedule is a model, not observed unit pricing"},{"body":"Recent same-month rent growth is stronger than the three-year annualized pace, while the five-year rate remains higher. The history is complete across its reported observations, yet its high variability classification, measured monthly movement, drawdown, and weak stability discovery rank indicate that the current index should not be treated as an unusually precise or permanent market level.","title":"History supports momentum but calls for caution with a single snapshot"},{"body":"The direct ZIP resale observation shows a higher median sold price from a year earlier, but also extended marketing time, below-list average sale outcomes, and moderate months of supply. Those conditions do not negate rising asking-rent history, but they create a useful tension: price appreciation and rent momentum coexist with resale liquidity signals that are less indicative of urgent competition.","title":"Resale evidence is constructive on price but softer on transaction terms"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, so it cannot establish the advertised rent, condition, concessions, utilities, availability, or lease economics for any particular unit.","The matched Census ZCTA is a statistical geography rather than an identical USPS delivery ZIP, and its five-year occupied-household survey should not be substituted for current ZIP asking-rent conditions.","Historical rent growth is backward-looking and has meaningful measured variability and drawdown, reducing confidence that a single current index observation represents a stable near-term benchmark.","Redfin resale measures describe for-sale transactions and listings rather than rental deals; the rent-to-sale-price screening ratio omits operating costs and cannot represent property-level economics."],"qa":[{"a":"They describe different evidence universes. 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 and includes selected utilities. Existing lease timing, household composition, unit mix, and utility treatment can all differ without indicating an error in either source.","q":"Why does the Zillow rent level differ so much from ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by scaling the ZIP-wide Zillow index with the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not an asking-rent dataset. The figures show an implied size gradient only and require checking against actual unit advertisements.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures actual rents observed for available apartments?"},{"a":"The history indicates positive same-month growth over multiple horizons, but it also records meaningful monthly variability and a measurable peak-to-trough drawdown. Complete observation coverage improves confidence that the history is observed rather than sparse, yet variability means the current value should be interpreted as a market index snapshot rather than a fixed outcome or forecast.","q":"How should the historical rent measures affect confidence in the current ZORI level?"},{"a":"It does not directly describe rental market conditions because it is a rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation. It provides resale price, sales pace, listings, supply, and sale-to-list signals. Those measures can be compared with rent indicators for cross-market tension, but they are not rental comparables and do not establish income, expenses, or returns for a property.","q":"What does the Redfin resale section say about rental market conditions?"}],"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 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