At June 2026, Zillow’s ZIP-level ZORI for 80205 was $1,974 per month, down 1.6% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a record of signed leases or a bedroom-specific rent survey. The ZIP sat above the Denver city context of $1,877 and the Denver County context of $1,889, while remaining above the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro context of $1,930; each of those wider figures is context, not a substitute ZIP measurement. The immediate tension is therefore a relatively high current asking-rent index alongside a modest annual decline.
That decline follows a broader cooling pattern in the direct Zillow ZIP history through the stated endpoint. Exact same-month annualized changes were -1.6% over one year, -1.2% over three years, and +1.5% over five years. Recent direction therefore breaks from the longer five-year gain rather than confirming it. History coverage was 100% across 138 observations, supporting continuity of the backward-looking series, but it does not turn the series into a forecast. Monthly movement produced a 3.0% annualized variability measure, so a single current ZORI reading deserves moderate rather than absolute confidence. Separately, the maximum drawdown was 6.7%, showing that the observed path experienced a meaningful retreat from a prior peak. Transparent national discovery ranks were 2,751 for momentum, 1,671 for stability, and 2,669 for the balanced measure among history-eligible ZIPs, where lower ranks are stronger.
Source scope matters when placing the current index beside survey and administrative benchmarks. In the matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey, median gross rent was $1,905 for occupied renter homes; gross rent includes selected utilities and reflects survey responses rather than current asking rents. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, even though this five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard was $2,089. That administrative, bedroom-specific standard is not asking rent, so the relationship between ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD should be read as a comparison of different evidence universes, not competing measurements of the same lease.
The bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder, not measured bedroom rents. From studio through four bedrooms, the monthly modelled estimates are $1,553, $1,657, $1,974, $2,583, and $2,881. The two-bedroom modelled estimate aligns with the overall ZORI anchor because it is derived from that ZIP index and the local ladder. These values are useful for keeping bedroom-size assumptions explicit, but they cannot establish the rent of a particular studio, apartment, house, or available listing. Unit condition, lease terms, utilities, and actual bedroom classification remain outside this modelled sequence.
The income and burden evidence adds a separate affordability lens. The matched ZCTA’s ACS median household income was $104,836. Applying the arithmetic 30% screen to annualized ZIP ZORI produces required income of $78,960 and an asking-rent-to-income ratio of 22.6%. This is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. In the ACS renter universe, 4,707 renter households, or 41.4%, were burdened at 30% or more of income. That broad occupied-household burden share was lower than the 47.6% Denver city ACS context, but it cannot show whether any specific available unit is affordable to a particular household.
The ZCTA counted 19,830 housing units, with 1,708 vacant, for an 8.6% vacancy rate. Of the vacant inventory, 663 units were classified as vacant for rent. Renters occupied 62.7% of occupied homes, and the housing stock includes both single-family units and buildings with large multifamily structures. These counts frame the area’s rental orientation and the amount of vacant stock in the survey period, but vacancy is not proof that a named unit is available, competitively priced, habitable, or suitable for a particular renter. The ACS housing profile is also a five-year survey estimate rather than a current leasing inventory feed.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation belongs solely to the for-sale market. It reported a $676,797 median sold price, up 9.2% year over year, with 118 homes sold and a median 21 days on market. Inventory was 186 homes and months of supply stood at 4.8. Sale-to-list signals were restrained rather than uniformly aggressive: the average sale-to-list ratio was 99.3%, while 18.3% of sales closed above list. The resale evidence challenges the rent-history cooling signal because sold prices rose while the asking-rent index declined. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price was 3.5%, but that is only a cross-source screening ratio; it cannot describe operating costs, financing, property condition, or the economics of a specific asset.
Neither the rent index, the ACS survey, HUD standard, history series, nor resale observation resolves property-level questions on its own. A concrete review would need the actual advertised rent, bedroom count, lease length, concession terms, utility responsibilities, fees, availability date, and days marketed for a rental; a for-sale review would separately need the property’s list and sale details, condition, and carrying-cost information. The evidence supports a careful distinction between a cooling asking-rent path, a still-material renter burden share, and a resale market with rising median sold prices. What do the specific lease terms and property facts show once those separate market signals are brought down to the individual unit?
","findings":[{"body":"ZIP 80205’s Zillow ZORI was $1,974 in June 2026, with a 1.6% same-month annual decline. The one-year and three-year history measures were negative, while the five-year measure remained positive. That sequence identifies a recent break from the longer path, not evidence about future rents or lease outcomes.","title":"Current asking-rent signal is cooling"},{"body":"The ACS ZCTA median gross rent describes occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, while Zillow ZORI summarizes typical observed asking rents across rental types. HUD’s bedroom-specific standard is administrative rather than transactional. The close numerical range among these sources should not be treated as confirmation that they measure identical homes, leases, or costs.","title":"Survey, asking-rent, and HUD figures answer different questions"},{"body":"The arithmetic income screen places annual income needed for the ZIP asking-rent index below the ZCTA median household income, yet 41.4% of ACS renter households were burdened at 30% or more of income. This contrast shows why a ZIP-wide income comparison cannot stand in for household-level affordability or qualification.","title":"Renter burden remains material despite the income screen"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP resale data showed a higher median sold price year over year even as Zillow’s asking-rent index declined. Homes sold in a relatively short median marketing period, but the average sale-to-list figure was below list and only a minority sold above list. Those are for-sale signals, not rental comparables.","title":"Resale evidence conflicts with rent cooling"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index, so it cannot verify the current asking rent, concession package, utility treatment, bedroom count, or availability of a particular rental unit.","ACS figures are five-year survey estimates for a matched ZCTA, with sampling uncertainty and a geography that is statistical rather than identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.","The modelled bedroom ladder scales the ZIP asking-rent index using HUD standards; it does not measure observed rents for studios or any other bedroom category.","Redfin resale metrics concern homes sold in the ZIP’s for-sale market. Median sold price and sale-to-list evidence cannot establish rental income, expenses, financing outcomes, or property-specific economics."],"qa":[{"a":"They use different universes and definitions. Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR or SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard, not a current asking-rent observation.","q":"Why do Zillow, ACS, and HUD rent figures differ?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates formed by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They help make bedroom assumptions visible, but they do not represent direct measurements of available units, signed leases, building classes, utility packages, or property conditions.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates actual measured rents in 80205?"},{"a":"The complete historical coverage supports continuity in the backward-looking series, while the negative one-year and three-year changes indicate recent cooling against a positive five-year result. Monthly variability and the prior maximum drawdown show that the series has moved meaningfully over time, so one current observation should not be treated as a fixed market fact.","q":"What does the rent history say about confidence in the current ZORI reading?"},{"a":"Redfin provides a direct rolling-three-month observation of ZIP for-sale activity, including sold prices, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list behavior. Its rising median sold price contrasts with the cooling asking-rent history, creating a cross-market tension. The annualized-rent-to-price figure is only a screening ratio and does not measure a specific property’s financial outcome.","q":"How should the resale data be interpreted beside the rental evidence?"}],"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 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