Rent and resale are sending a mixed but decision-relevant signal in this ZIP. At the stated Zillow endpoint, the typical observed asking-rent index is $1,785 per month, down 2.6% from a year earlier. In Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation, the median sold price is $787,322, only 0.3% below the prior year. That for-sale record includes 180 homes sold with a median 20 days on market, 200 homes of inventory, 408 active listings, and 192 pending sales. Supply is 3.4 months; the average sale-to-list result is 99.1%, while 15.4% sold above list and 47.8% went off market within two weeks. Those are resale-market liquidity and pricing signals, not rental transactions or rental comparables.
The asking-rent path supports the supplied cooling classification, although it is not uniformly weak across every horizon. Exact same-month Zillow history shows a 2.5% decline over one year and a 0.2% annualized decline over three years, breaking from the 3.2% annualized gain over five years. The history has 100% coverage over its available monthly sequence, which makes the directional comparison complete rather than based on missing intervals. Monthly rent changes annualize to 3.1% variability, so one current index reading warrants moderate rather than absolute confidence. Separately, the largest historical peak-to-trough drawdown was 4.4%, evidence that observed asking rents have experienced meaningful reversals. Momentum rank 2,755 and stability rank 1,840 are transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs, with lower ranks higher; they are backward-looking descriptors, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Source definitions explain why several rent figures should not be treated as substitutes. Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level, typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. The five-digit 80220 label also matches a Census ZCTA, but a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. In the matched ACS 2024 five-year survey, median gross rent is $1,639; it reflects occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, making the current asking index 8.9% higher. HUD's FY2026 local two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard is $2,089. That administrative, bedroom-specific standard is not asking rent, even though the current Zillow index equals 85.4% of it.
The bedroom figures are modelled estimates, produced by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder; they are not measured bedroom rents. On that modelled basis, a studio is $1,404 monthly, a one-bedroom is $1,499, a two-bedroom is $1,785, a three-bedroom is $2,336, and a four-bedroom is $2,605. The ladder supplies a transparent size adjustment around the ZIP-wide asking-rent index, but it does not identify a specific property's condition, lease terms, included utilities, or current availability. It therefore helps frame relative bedroom sizing within the same model rather than establish observed asking rents for each bedroom category.
The required-income screen is arithmetic rather than advice, an affordability determination, or an applicant-qualification rule. Applying the 30% convention to the current ZIP asking-rent index produces required annual income of $71,400. The ZCTA-wide ACS median household income is $106,054, and the asking-rent-to-income comparison is 20.2%; neither measure identifies renter income for a particular unit or household. ACS also reports that 51.3% of renter households pay 30% or more of household income toward gross rent. That burden measure includes occupied renter homes and selected utilities, whereas ZORI reflects asking rents, so the two readings indicate a broad affordability tension without proving the costs or financial position attached to any individual rental.
Housing composition and vacancy provide a further constraint on interpretation. The matched ZCTA contains 17,861 housing units, of which 931 are vacant, for a 5.2% vacancy rate; 260 of the vacant units are classified as for rent. Its stock includes 11,428 single-family units and 3,860 units in large multifamily structures, while renter-occupied homes represent 43.1% of occupied housing. These are area-level ACS housing counts, not an inventory feed for currently available rentals. In particular, a vacant-for-rent count cannot establish that a given unit is obtainable, competitively priced, in usable condition, or comparable to the rental mix represented by Zillow's blended asking-rent index.
Wider rent context places the ZIP below each supplied comparison geography: at the City of Denver scope, the context asking-rent figure is $1,877; at the Denver County scope, it is $1,889; and at the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro scope, it is $1,930. Those city, county, and metro figures are context only and do not replace direct ZIP evidence. The rent-price screen, calculated as annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the ZIP median sold price, is 2.7%; it is solely a cross-source screening ratio. The small resale-price decline confirms some directional softness alongside cooling asking rents, but relatively quick marketing, limited months of supply, and near-list sale outcomes challenge any simple reading that the ZIP's resale market is broadly illiquid.
The evidence is useful for framing questions, not for assigning property economics. Zillow's index does not disclose the exact listings behind the current figure; ACS is a five-year survey of occupied homes; HUD standards are administrative; and Redfin's rolling resale observation does not measure rental transactions, operating costs, or unit-level income. Concrete property-level checks include the actual asking amount, bedroom count, property type, lease duration, included utilities, move-in timing, concessions, condition, and directly comparable current listings or completed sales. The unresolved issue is whether a specific property aligns with the ZIP-wide rental model and resale evidence, rather than whether any one area statistic can answer that question alone.
","findings":[{"body":"ZIP Zillow asking rent is declining year over year and the longer history is nearly flat over the intermediate horizon, while Redfin's direct ZIP resale record shows only a small annual median-price decrease. Fast marketing and near-list sale outcomes sit beside the rent slowdown. This is a cross-universe tension: resale evidence can contextualize market conditions, but it does not establish rental demand, lease pricing, or property-level economics.","title":"Cooling asking rents meet a comparatively steady resale market"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI tracks a typical observed asking-rent index across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey result for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. The ZIP and matched ZCTA connection improves geographic alignment, but the statistical ZCTA remains distinct from a USPS delivery ZIP.","title":"Rent measures answer different questions"},{"body":"Studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling the ZIP-wide Zillow asking-rent index with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They provide a consistent size framework, but they are not observed rents for available units. A specific home's bedroom count, type, utility treatment, condition, concessions, and lease terms may produce a materially different asking amount.","title":"The bedroom ladder is a model, not a rent survey"},{"body":"ACS indicates that a substantial share of renter households are rent burdened, while the same survey records both vacant housing and vacant-for-rent units. Neither statistic proves affordability or availability for a particular household or address. The useful interpretation is a broad area-level tension: household burden can coexist with vacancies because those measures cover different homes, conditions, prices, and points in time.","title":"Area burden and vacancy require unit-level follow-through"}],"risks":["The Zillow asking-rent index, ACS gross-rent survey, and HUD administrative standard have different populations, utility treatment, and purposes. Comparing them without retaining those source boundaries can create a false impression of a single market rent.","Recent rent declines are backward-looking observations rather than a forecast. Historical variability and the recorded drawdown indicate that a single current ZORI snapshot can move, particularly when interpreted without listing-level detail.","Vacancy and rent-burden figures are area-level ACS measures, not evidence that a specific rental is available, affordable, maintained, or comparable with the rental types represented in Zillow's blended index.","Redfin's rolling ZIP resale metrics describe for-sale activity only. The annualized rent-to-price screen excludes expenses, financing, taxes, maintenance, vacancies, property condition, and all other inputs required for property-specific economic analysis."],"qa":[{"a":"The measures cover different universes. Zillow ZORI is a current typical observed asking-rent index spanning rental types, while ACS median gross rent comes from occupied renter homes in a five-year survey and includes selected utilities. The ACS figure may reflect leases initiated at different times and housing already occupied, so the difference is descriptive rather than a contradiction.","q":"Why is Zillow asking rent higher than ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom figures are modelled estimates that scale the ZIP-wide Zillow asking-rent index using the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are useful for comparing relative bedroom sizes inside one transparent model, but they do not measure current listings, executed leases, utility packages, concessions, or the condition of any particular home.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates observed rents for studios, one-bedroom homes, or larger units?"},{"a":"It does not directly describe the rental market. Redfin provides a direct rolling-three-month ZIP observation of for-sale outcomes, including sold prices, sales volume, days on market, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list behavior. Those signals can contrast with the rent history, but they cannot serve as rental comparables or establish rental performance for a property.","q":"What does the Redfin evidence say about the rental market?"},{"a":"A property-level assessment still needs the actual asking amount, bedroom count, property type, included utilities, lease length, availability date, concessions, condition, and current comparable listings. For resale context, it also needs directly comparable completed sales and relevant listing details. Area averages, survey medians, and administrative standards cannot determine whether one address matches the ZIP-wide pattern.","q":"What property-level information remains necessary after reviewing these area measures?"}],"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 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