ZIP 77006 opens with a measured rent-versus-resale tension: Zillow ZORI for June 2026 is $1,708 per month, up 0.7% from a year earlier, while the direct ZIP median gross rent in the ACS is $1,802 and median household income is $106,533. The current asking-rent index therefore sits below the ACS gross-rent measure despite the area’s relatively high reported household income. Annualized ZORI equals 19.2% of that median income, and a simple 30% rent-to-income screen produces required income of $68,320. That screen is arithmetic only; it is not advice and is not an applicant qualification rule.
The rent history shows positive but restrained recent movement. The one-year same-month annualized change was 0.7%, the three-year same-month annualized change was also 0.7%, and the five-year same-month annualized change was 2.3%. Thus, the recent direction confirms the longer upward path, but it breaks from the faster pace embedded in the five-year result. History coverage is complete across 137 monthly observations and 136 consecutive returns. Annualized monthly-return variability was 2.5%, which supports more confidence in the current snapshot than a highly erratic series would. Still, the largest recorded peak-to-trough decline was 7.3%, so the June reading should not be treated as fixed. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 605 for stability, 2,151 for momentum, and 1,575 for the balanced measure. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The sources answer different questions. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a census survey or a bedroom-specific lease comp set. The matched Census ZCTA ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, even though the five-digit 77006 label is both the Zillow ZIP market identifier and the Census ZCTA match used here. FY 2026 HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Those scope differences explain why the three rent measures should be compared for perspective rather than substituted for one another.
The bedroom ladder is modelled from ZIP ZORI using the local HUD ladder, not measured bedroom rents. It estimates $1,390 for a studio, $1,433 for one bedroom, $1,708 for two bedrooms, $2,294 for three bedrooms, and $2,866 for four bedrooms. The local HUD standards run from $1,920 for a studio to $3,960 for four bedrooms, with the different bedroom steps providing the scaling structure. These modelled monthly estimates are useful for placing a particular bedroom count on a consistent ZIP-wide index, but they are not lease observations, asking-rent comps, or evidence that every two-bedroom home commands the index value.
The ACS housing profile gives the rent figures a renter-heavy aggregate setting. Of 17,031 housing units, the ZCTA has 5,917 single-family units and 7,882 units in large multifamily structures. Renters account for 65.4% of occupied homes, while the overall vacancy rate is 13.7%. Vacancy is an area-level count condition and cannot prove availability, lease concessions, or condition for any particular unit. An estimated 39.1% of renter households, or 3,756 households, paid at least 30% of income toward rent; the ACS 90% margin of error for that count is 777 households. This burden measure describes surveyed occupied renter households, not the affordability status of a new listing or a specific applicant.
Wider geography supplies context, not replacement benchmarks. Houston city context rent is $1,567, Harris County context rent is $1,600, and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro context rent is $1,648; each is lower than the ZIP asking-rent index but belongs to its respective broader geography. Houston city context has a 57.9% renter share and Harris County context has a 45.3% renter share, compared with the ZIP’s 65.4% ACS renter share. These comparisons frame how 77006 differs from city, county, and metro aggregates, but none identifies the rent, household finances, or vacancy of a given building.
Redfin supplies a separate for-sale reading through its direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation. Median sold price was $618,860, up 4.0% year over year; 100 homes sold, median marketing time was 39 days, inventory was 137 homes, and months of supply was 4.2. The sale-to-list signals were a 97.1% average sale-to-list ratio, a 12.4% sold-above-list share, and a 32.2% share going off market within two weeks. This is resale-market evidence, not rental transactions or rental comps. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price creates a 3.31% cross-source screening ratio only, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. Resale prices rising faster than the recent rent index challenges any reading of the income screen and stable rent history as a complete cross-market picture.
Several limits remain material. ZORI is an aggregate asking-rent index, ACS estimates are survey-based aggregates with margins of error, HUD standards are administrative, and Redfin summarizes resale transactions rather than operating income or rental leases. The sources also use different observation windows and populations. Property-level interpretation requires checking the exact address and geography match, advertised rent, bedroom count, property type, utility treatment, lease term, availability date, condition, and whether a listing is actually comparable to the index or resale record. Neither the vacancy rate nor the burden share establishes those facts. Which property-level facts would show that a specific listing belongs in these ZIP-wide and cross-source comparisons?
","findings":[{"body":"The one-year and three-year same-month rent changes were both 0.7%, while the five-year annualized change was 2.3%. That pattern retains an upward direction but shows recent movement at a slower historical pace. Complete monthly coverage and modest variability make the current index useful as an aggregate snapshot, although the recorded drawdown shows that it should not be read as immutable.","title":"Rent growth is positive but materially slower than the longer history"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI is a blended ZIP asking-rent index, while ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative standard organized by bedroom count. The modelled bedroom estimates scale ZORI with the HUD ladder, so they provide a consistent screen but are not observed bedroom-specific rents.","title":"Asking rent, gross rent, and HUD standards are distinct measures"},{"body":"The matched ZCTA has a majority renter share, substantial large-multifamily stock, and an overall vacancy rate above one-tenth of units. The ACS also estimates that a sizable share of renter households pays at least 30% of income toward rent. Those measures characterize surveyed households and area stock; they cannot establish concession availability, unit condition, or a prospective renter’s financial outcome.","title":"The aggregate housing profile is renter-heavy with meaningful uncertainty"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP resale data show sold-price growth that exceeded the recent asking-rent increase, alongside measurable sales volume, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list behavior. That contrast is a cross-market tension rather than a causal conclusion. The annualized-rent-to-sold-price figure is only a screening ratio because it omits operating costs, financing, property differences, and actual rental transaction evidence.","title":"Resale evidence complicates a rent-only interpretation"}],"risks":["The Zillow asking-rent index blends rental types and does not identify the rent, quality, utility package, concession terms, or availability of any individual home, apartment, or lease offer.","ACS gross rent, income, burden, household composition, and vacancy are five-year survey estimates for the matched ZCTA, with uncertainty that can materially affect interpretation of subgroup counts.","The bedroom figures are modelled by applying the local HUD ladder to ZIP ZORI, so they should not be treated as measured rents for a particular bedroom count or property type.","Redfin resale metrics describe direct ZIP for-sale transactions over a rolling period, while the rent-price screening ratio excludes expenses, financing, lease terms, and unit-level comparability."],"qa":[{"a":"The two figures are drawn from different evidence universes. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, whereas ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Different populations, timing, and utility treatment can produce a gap without showing that either source is incorrect.","q":"Why is the Zillow asking-rent index below the ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates produced by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are intended as a structured ZIP-wide screen. They do not measure signed leases, listing rents, concessions, unit condition, building quality, utility inclusions, or the actual rent of a particular property.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates actual observed rents for studios through four-bedroom homes?"},{"a":"It divides annualized ZIP ZORI by Redfin’s direct ZIP median sold price to create a cross-source screening ratio. It is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield because it does not include operating expenses, taxes, insurance, maintenance, financing, vacancy experience, lease collections, or property-level rent evidence.","q":"What does the Redfin rent-price screening ratio mean?"},{"a":"The relevant checks are the exact address and ZIP or ZCTA match, property type, bedroom count, advertised rent, utility responsibility, lease duration, availability timing, physical condition, and comparable listing or transaction status. Those facts determine whether an individual property is meaningfully comparable to an aggregate asking-rent index, ACS survey measure, HUD standard, or resale observation.","q":"What information is needed before applying these ZIP measures to a specific 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 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