The five-digit 43229 label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match, but the ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The distinctive decision question is how a current ZIP asking-rent signal relates to a household-income screen without treating it as a lease quote. In June 2026, Zillow ZORI is $1,323 per month, up 3.74% year over year. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types; it is not a measured rent for each home or a claim that every available property commands that amount. The useful reading starts with this current index, then keeps survey rent, federal standards, household finances, and property-specific terms in their separate evidence universes.
Household and renter data make the screening question more concrete while retaining its limits. In the matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 5-year survey, median household income is $57,561. Applying the structural 30% convention to the monthly ZORI arithmetically yields required annual income of $52,920; that is an arithmetic screen, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. The same survey places the renter share at 58.1%. It also estimates that 45.2% of renter households have gross-rent burdens at or above the stated threshold. This is an observed survey burden distribution, not proof that a particular unit will be affordable, nor an indication of any particular household’s income or payment outcome.
The ZORI–ACS difference is material, but it is not a like-for-like time series. The ACS median gross rent is $1,142 and describes occupied renter homes over the five-year survey window; it includes selected utilities. The current Zillow index is 15.8% above that ACS median. That comparison reflects different timing, populations, and rent definitions rather than a measured increase for the same homes. HUD adds another distinct reference point: the FY2026 two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard is $1,300, and the ZIP ZORI is 1.8% higher. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent, so its role here is a standardized comparator rather than evidence of market leases.
Bedroom figures give a structured range, but their construction matters more than their apparent precision. The monthly ZIP estimates are modelled—not measured bedroom rents—by scaling ZORI with the local HUD ladder: $1,028 for a studio, $1,109 for one bedroom, $1,323 for two bedrooms, $1,588 for three bedrooms, and $1,781 for four bedrooms. The HUD endpoints behind that ladder are $1,010 for a studio and $1,750 for four bedrooms. This method deliberately anchors the two-bedroom modelled estimate to the all-type ZIP index and spreads other sizes according to HUD’s relative pattern. It does not observe bedroom-specific listings, signed rents, concessions, building quality, or utility terms. The ladder is therefore a consistent scenario comparison, not an assertion that a property of a given size actually rents at its displayed estimate.
Inventory data temper any attempt to read the rent index as a direct availability measure. The ZCTA has 23,250 housing units, including 21,784 occupied and 1,466 vacant units, for a 6.3% vacancy rate. Of vacancies, 209 are classified for rent and 243 as seasonal; those labels describe components of the stock, not the condition, price, timing, or suitability of a specific offering. Structure data include both single-family and larger multifamily categories, with other structure categories not itemized here. Neither the vacancy rate nor the for-rent count establishes the availability of a particular unit, and neither can establish whether its rent aligns with ZORI or the modelled bedroom figures.
Within wider contexts, the City of Columbus context rent is $1,456, Franklin County context rent is $1,510, and Columbus, OH metro context rent is $1,528, each above the ZIP’s current index. The City of Columbus and Franklin County renter shares are both below the ZIP’s renter share. The Columbus, OH metro context has a lower rent-to-income measure than the ZIP’s index-to-income calculation, but it is a broader context rather than an estimate for ZIP households. City, county, and metro values offer scale only: they do not replace the ZIP ZORI, the matched-ZCTA ACS survey, or the local HUD standard, and they should not be merged into a single affordability statistic.
Several limits govern a property decision. ZORI is an index, ACS is a multi-year survey with sampling uncertainty, and HUD is an administrative standard; each can differ from an advertised or executed lease. The ZCTA boundary is statistical, while a delivery ZIP is operational, so address-level geography requires verification. Concrete property-level checks are the advertised monthly rent, bedroom count, lease term, move-in and recurring charges, concession treatment, utility responsibility, availability date, and the exact geographic eligibility of any standard being used. Verify whether the advertised price reflects a current offer and whether the household-income calculation uses the same payment components. These checks prevent a market-level figure, a vacancy category, or a burden statistic from being mistaken for evidence about an individual unit.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow places typical observed asking rent at $1,323 in June 2026, with 3.74% year-over-year growth. This is the current market index for a broad asking-rent signal. It is not a property quote and cannot be substituted for the ACS gross-rent survey or HUD’s administrative bedroom benchmark.","title":"Current asking-rent signal"},{"body":"Applying 30% to the ZIP index produces an annual $52,920 arithmetic screen against a $57,561 ACS median household income. The calculation does not describe applicant qualification. ACS also reports a 58.1% renter share and a 45.2% observed gross-rent-burden share, framing renter exposure without determining any household’s outcome.","title":"Income screen and renter exposure"},{"body":"Modelled estimates use HUD relative bedroom standards to translate ZORI into size scenarios, from $1,028 for a studio to $1,781 for four bedrooms. They are not observed bedroom rents. Their use depends on confirming a property’s bedroom classification, rent components, and whether its advertised price contains concessions.","title":"Bedroom amounts are modelled"},{"body":"The ZCTA’s 6.3% overall vacancy includes 209 units classified for rent and 243 seasonal vacancies. These components do not establish listing-level availability. Wider City of Columbus, Franklin County, and Columbus, OH metro rents are higher than the ZIP index, but each remains context rather than a substitute for ZIP rent, survey, or HUD measures.","title":"Vacancy is not listing availability"}],"risks":["Source-definition risk: Zillow ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD FMR/SAFMR differ in timing, populations, bedroom treatment, and utility treatment, so a blended average would not be a valid market measure.","Model-construction risk: bedroom amounts derive from applying the local HUD ladder to an all-type ZIP index. They organize scenarios but cannot identify measured rents, concessions, condition, or lease terms at an individual property.","Geographic and sampling risk: the Census ZCTA is a statistical geography rather than a USPS delivery ZIP, and ACS estimates carry survey uncertainty that can matter when interpreting income, renter share, and burden.","Availability risk: classification of vacant units, including units designated for rent, cannot demonstrate a current listing, establish a unit’s price or condition, or prove that a particular home is affordable."],"qa":[{"a":"For June 2026, ZORI supplies the ZIP-level current typical observed asking-rent index, blended across rental types. Its $1,323 level and 3.74% annual movement describe the index rather than every listing or lease. It is current market context, but it remains separate from ACS survey rent and HUD administrative standards.","q":"What does Zillow ZORI represent here?"},{"a":"The ACS $1,142 figure is a median gross-rent estimate for occupied renter homes across a five-year survey period and includes selected utilities. Zillow’s $1,323 ZORI is a current asking-rent index. Their 15.8% difference reflects separate definitions and time frames, so it cannot be read as a direct rent change for the same properties.","q":"Why is ACS median gross rent lower than ZORI?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom amounts are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by scaling the all-type ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They do not observe bedroom-specific listings, executed leases, concessions, utility treatment, or building characteristics. HUD itself is an administrative standard rather than a measure of asking rent.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates measured rents?"},{"a":"No. Vacancy categories describe portions of ZCTA housing stock, while rent burden describes an ACS survey distribution among renter households. Neither identifies a current listing or establishes its rent. Property-level interpretation requires the advertised price, bedroom count, fees, concessions, utilities, lease term, availability date, and address-level geography.","q":"Can vacancy or rent burden assess a particular property?"}],"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":"2022-03-01","rent":1039.585314},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1059.486948},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1071.636947},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1092.029661},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1095.535931},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1110.885643},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1107.662017},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1111.50277},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1092.654968},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1098.537266},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1087.720313},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1097.345966},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1088.938234},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1098.911656},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1102.825819},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1108.29222},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1117.106389},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1144.621863},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1155.629795},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1181.752464},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1178.495766},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1187.59206},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1188.838177},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1191.87539},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1184.571633},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1176.215063},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1173.512054},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1186.927844},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1190.384231},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1205.707401},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1221.445859},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1220.358752},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1222.932842},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1222.498767},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1241.646216},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1245.903742},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1260.82365},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1264.405194},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1274.325714},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1274.900547},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1279.561317},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1263.103794},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1259.035519},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1260.010495},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1276.272284},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1284.50477},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1284.931529},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1292.05022},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1299.52949},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1311.773275},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1322.574315}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":51,"firstPeriod":"2022-03-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":52,"coverageRatio":0.9807692307692307,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1274.900547,"endRent":1322.574315,"change":0.037394107416599986,"cagr":0.037394107416599986},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1108.29222,"endRent":1322.574315,"change":0.19334440063108982,"cagr":0.060690306443291986}},"maxDrawdown":-0.021396669123910472,"annualizedVolatility":0.029898093680649097,"consecutiveReturnCount":49}}