ZIP 55901 poses a specific screening question: how should a current typical asking-rent signal be read alongside household and housing evidence that describes a different population? In June 2026, Zillow ZORI is $1,669 per month, up 2.0% from a year earlier. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is a market indicator rather than a quote for any particular home. The 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. For a renter, owner, or property reviewer, the central distinction is whether the index is a broad pricing reference or a substitute for the terms of an individual unit. The packet supports the former reading only. That distinction sets the boundary for every comparison below.
The nearest historical household benchmark is the ACS 2024 5-year median gross rent of $1,403, with a margin of error of $50. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. It is therefore not an asking-rent series and should not be merged with ZORI. The ZIP index is 19.0% above that survey median, a difference that does not convert either measure into the other. HUD FY2026 FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. The ZIP index stands 37.5% above the applicable HUD standard, which serves a separate administrative reference. The comparison is useful as a measure of conceptual separation, not as a premium charged to the same homes. Utility inclusion and occupancy status alone prevent a like-for-like reading.
In the matched ZCTA, median household income is $94,607, with a margin of error of $5,986. At ZIP ZORI, the supplied 30% required-income screen produces $66,760 annually, and index rent equals 21.2% of the reported median income. This is arithmetic based on the index and income figure, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Renters occupy 8,449 homes, or 35.7% of occupied homes. Among the measured renter universe, 3,971 households—47.0%—are observed at or above the supplied burden threshold; its margin of error is 562 households. This reports a population pattern, not what any individual tenant pays or can afford. The income median is a household statistic, so it neither supplies renter-only income nor describes variation around the median. The burden result likewise has a defined survey universe.
Bedroom detail requires a separately labelled construction. The supplied studio-through-four-bedroom values are modelled monthly ZIP estimates, not measured bedroom rents: $1,363, $1,444, $1,669, $2,286 and $2,775. They scale ZIP ZORI through the local HUD ladder rather than independently observing listings in each configuration. The ordering shows a modest step at the lower end and progressively larger dollar changes for the larger supplied categories, but it cannot identify a unit’s exact price, condition, utility treatment, or availability. The relevant HUD ladder is an administrative bedroom-specific standard; its corresponding anchor is $1,214, not an asking-rent observation. The scaling preserves the local shape of the standard but does not add listing observations. A bedroom label should remain attached whenever these modelled estimates are cited.
Housing stock gives scale, but not a vacancy conclusion for a specific listing. The ZCTA has 25,010 housing units: 23,650 are occupied and 1,360 are vacant, yielding a 5.4% vacancy rate. Of vacant units, 775 are classified for rent, compared with 16 for sale and 77 seasonal. Those classifications describe inventory status at survey collection, not whether a particular unit is advertised, habitable, competitively priced, or available on a chosen date. The stock also includes 17,039 single-family units and 4,430 units in larger multifamily structures. This mix describes structure counts, not the tenure, rent, or vacancy status of each structure. The relationship between vacancy and the timing or price of an actual offering is unobserved here. Similarly, stock types do not reveal unit-level bedroom counts.
Broader figures provide a frame around the ZIP signal, rather than replacements for it. The Rochester city-scope rent context is $1,702.28 versus the ZIP index reported above; the Olmsted County-scope rent context is $1,702; and the Rochester, MN metro-scope rent context is $1,695. These wider context values are not substitutes for ZIP ZORI. The Rochester city-scope and Olmsted County-scope survey-rent contexts are each lower than the matched-ZCTA ACS figure, while metro context uses its own geographic aggregation. Each comparison retains named scope because city, county, and metro values summarize different areas rather than supplying additional readings of the ZIP market. They are useful points of comparison but do not establish uniform conditions across their constituent ZIPs or ZCTAs.
Limits matter before applying these figures to a property. ZORI is an index, ACS is a survey estimate with its own uncertainty, HUD is a standard, and the bedroom figures are a model built from ZORI and HUD. Neither the vacancy counts nor burden pattern establishes rent, availability, or affordability for a particular unit. For a property-level read, check the quoted monthly asking rent, exact unit and bedroom type, which utilities are included, lease and availability terms, and every recurring fee or charge. Confirm the date to which each quote applies and distinguish base rent from bundled or separately billed amounts. Recalculate the 30% screen from the verified rent and the income definition being used; it remains arithmetic rather than advice or a qualification rule. Those checks connect a broad index to a real offer without treating area data as proof.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow’s current ZIP-level ZORI provides the immediate asking-rent signal, but it is a blended typical index across rental types. It should be interpreted as a market measure rather than a posted price. Its gap over the ACS gross-rent median indicates that the two figures answer different questions: contemporary observed asking rents versus survey-reported costs in occupied renter homes.","title":"Current asking-rent signal"},{"body":"The supplied bedroom figures are a modelled ladder created by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder. They make relative size comparisons possible within the ZIP model, while the HUD component remains an administrative standard. Neither series directly measures the rent of a studio, a larger apartment, or any specific unit advertised at the time of review.","title":"Bedroom ladder is modelled"},{"body":"Income and burden evidence describes the matched ZCTA’s surveyed household base, not applicants to a building. The required-income figure is simply the stated rent multiplied through the supplied affordability screen. The observed burden share identifies a sizable surveyed renter population crossing that threshold, but does not establish any household’s financial position, lease terms, or payment history.","title":"Household evidence is area-level"},{"body":"The housing and vacancy counts describe the ZCTA’s survey inventory and its classifications. Rental-designated vacancies are not a listing feed, and other vacant categories are not interchangeable with rental availability. Structure counts also cannot show which homes are rented, the rents they command, whether utilities are included, or whether an individual property is available.","title":"Vacancy does not establish listing availability"}],"risks":["The ZIP and ZCTA are matched for this report but are not identical geographies. Boundary and delivery differences can make a property’s address or service ZIP unsuitable for direct assignment without verification.","ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD standards have different populations, timing, and construction. Treating a difference between them as a precise price gap would overstate what the sources can establish.","Survey margins of error apply to estimates and shares, while the bedroom series is modelled rather than observed. Apparent precision in reported dollars should not be mistaken for property-level precision.","Vacancy and rent-burden measures are area-level classifications or household outcomes. They cannot confirm that a particular home is available, affordable, compliant with a lease, or representative of a renter’s circumstances."],"qa":[{"a":"The report does not treat the difference as a price change for the same homes. ZORI summarizes observed asking rents across rental types, whereas ACS median gross rent summarizes occupied renter homes in a survey and includes selected utilities. Different observation methods, timing, and universes mean the comparison gives context, not a conversion factor.","q":"Why is the ACS median gross rent lower than the ZIP ZORI?"},{"a":"No. The figures are explicitly modelled monthly ZIP estimates that take the overall ZORI and scale it with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They preserve a relative pattern supplied by that construction, but they do not add separate listing samples, establish quoted rents, or account for the features and terms of an individual property.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates observed rents for homes in the ZIP?"},{"a":"It establishes the share of surveyed renter households in the matched ZCTA that meets the supplied burden definition, subject to the reported survey uncertainty. It does not identify the tenants at a specific property, disclose their incomes or expenses, predict payment performance, or determine whether a particular rent is affordable for an applicant.","q":"What does the rent-burden result establish?"},{"a":"Compare a verified property quote first with the ZIP asking-rent index as broad market context, while preserving its unit type and included utilities. Treat ACS as occupied-household survey context and HUD as an administrative standard. Then verify the listing’s actual rent, bedroom count, timing, utilities, fees, and lease terms before drawing property-level conclusions.","q":"Which comparisons are valid when reviewing a listed 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 + 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