The five-digit label 80909 is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. A ZCTA is a statistical area, however, and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow ZORI for June 2026 is $1,215, representing a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a quote for one available home. That level is the current rent signal, while the 3.84% annualized-ZORI-to-sale-price figure is only a cross-source screening ratio. It is not a measure of property operating economics or a return, because the rent index and resale-price series observe different markets.
The local bedroom ladder translates the ZIP-wide ZORI into modelled monthly estimates of $834 for a studio, $1,029 for one bedroom, $1,215 for two bedrooms, $1,693 for three bedrooms, and $1,920 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents: they scale the all-types ZIP ZORI using the local HUD ladder. The corresponding HUD two-bedroom standard is $1,500 in FY2026. HUD FMR or SAFMR figures are administrative, bedroom-specific standards rather than asking rents, so neither the HUD standard nor the modelled ladder should be substituted for a current advertised rent on a particular unit.
The historical path points to stable but slowing asking-rent growth rather than an acceleration. Exact same-month changes were 0.68% over one year, 1.09% annualized over three years, and 2.84% annualized over five years. Thus, the recent direction breaks from the stronger longer path by decelerating, even though it remains positive. The series has 78 observations with full coverage. Its annualized variability from monthly returns was 2.57%, meaning a single current index reading deserves measured confidence rather than treatment as a fixed market clearing price. Separately, the maximum drawdown was 1.68%, the largest decline seen in this observed history. The transparent national discovery ranks place stability at 834 and momentum at 2,074 among history-eligible ZIPs, where a lower rank is higher; they are backward-looking discovery tools, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA survey reports median gross rent of $1,296 with a $56 margin of error. This is a survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, making it a different evidence universe from Zillow asking rent; it cannot establish that current listings include the same utilities or lease terms. The arithmetic 30% required-income screen is $48,600, and ZIP asking rent equals 22.8% of the ZCTA median household income on that simple annualized comparison. This is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Within the survey, 4,207 of 7,412 renter households, or 56.8%, were burdened at 30% or more of income. That burden statistic describes surveyed households in aggregate and is not proof that any particular renter or unit is burdened.
The ZCTA housing-stock evidence adds a separate supply-and-occupancy lens. ACS records 836 vacant housing units, a 4.9% vacancy rate, including 430 units classified as vacant for rent. The structure mix includes 10,835 single-family units and 2,626 units in large multifamily structures, so neither a single-property type nor the modelled bedroom ladder represents the full stock. Vacancy classification does not confirm that a specific unit is available now, competitively priced, habitable, or offered without concessions. It also cannot show whether a vacancy is suitable for a household seeking a particular bedroom count or lease duration.
Wider-area rent context is materially higher: the City of Colorado Springs asking-rent context is $1,739, El Paso County context is $1,777, and the Colorado Springs, CO metro context is $1,779. Each is a city, county, or metro comparison rather than a ZIP rental comp, so the gap should not be read as a quality, amenity, or causal judgment. The ZCTA renter share and vacancy rate are both above their corresponding City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County context measures, while the city and county ACS median gross-rent measures are higher than the ZCTA survey result. These cross-scope contrasts frame 80909 as distinct from its wider geographies without replacing ZIP-level evidence.
Redfin supplies direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale evidence, not rental transactions. Its median sold price was $379,914, down 1.96% year over year, with 128 homes sold and a median 38 days on market. Inventory stood at 137 homes, months of supply were 3.2, and the average sale-to-list ratio was 99.24%; 25.83% of sales closed above list. These are resale liquidity, pricing, and negotiation signals only. The combination of a lower resale median price and increased inventory challenges any simple reading of broad strengthening from positive current rent and a modest positive one-year ZORI change. At the same time, recorded sales and near-list pricing show that the resale observation is not equivalent to an absence of transactions.
Decision limits matter because the datasets do not describe the same homes, timing, or transaction types. ZORI is an index, ACS is a survey of occupied renters, HUD is an administrative standard, and Redfin is a resale observation. Before treating a listing or sale as comparable, check the property address against the applicable ZIP and ZCTA boundary, unit bedroom count, advertised versus effective rent, included utilities, lease term, concessions, condition, availability date, listing history, and sale record. Verify whether the property facts align with the all-types index and whether resale records describe a genuinely comparable structure. The central unresolved question is whether the specific unit's lease and physical details support comparison with these aggregate signals at all.
","findings":[{"body":"ZIP 80909 Zillow ZORI is $1,215 in June 2026, while the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, and Colorado Springs metro asking-rent context figures are all higher. This comparison is useful for scope, but the wider values are not ZIP-level rental comps. ZORI is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, not a listing-level quote.","title":"Current asking-rent signal is below wider-area context"},{"body":"The one-year same-month ZORI change was positive at 0.68%, but it trailed the three-year annualized 1.09% rate and the five-year annualized 2.84% rate. That pattern indicates slowing measured growth rather than a continuation of the longer-run pace. Full historical coverage improves traceability, while monthly variability still limits confidence in one index observation.","title":"Recent rent growth has decelerated from the longer history"},{"body":"The ACS ZCTA median gross-rent measure differs from Zillow because it covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The 30% income screen is arithmetic only, while the burden share summarizes surveyed renter households rather than applicants or available units. A high aggregate burden share cannot establish affordability, hardship, or lease terms for a particular home.","title":"Survey affordability indicators require household-level caution"},{"body":"Redfin resale data show a year-over-year decline in the ZIP median sold price alongside greater inventory, even as Zillow asking rent remained modestly positive over one year. This is a cross-universe tension, not proof that either market causes the other. Recorded sales, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list measures describe for-sale liquidity rather than rental demand or landlord economics.","title":"Resale evidence complicates the rent snapshot"}],"risks":["Zillow asking-rent index, ACS gross rent, HUD bedroom standards, and Redfin resale records have different populations, timing, and definitions, so apparent agreement or disagreement cannot be treated as direct property-level confirmation.","The modelled bedroom figures inherit the ZIP-wide ZORI and local HUD ladder assumptions. They do not measure advertised rents by bedroom, unit condition, building type, lease term, utilities, or concession structure.","The burden and vacancy measures are aggregate ZCTA survey classifications. They cannot prove that a particular available unit is affordable, vacant today, suitable for a household, or subject to the same rent conditions.","The resale price screen uses annualized asking rent divided by median sold price across separate sources. It excludes operating costs, financing, taxes, insurance, repairs, turnover, and property-specific rent, so it cannot represent realized economics."],"qa":[{"a":"Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey estimate for occupied renter households in the matched Census ZCTA and includes selected utilities. The measures therefore differ in unit population, timing, utility treatment, and methodology, even when their dollar values are close.","q":"Why is Zillow ZORI different from ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by scaling the all-types Zillow ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are not measured asking rents, lease transactions, or advertised rents for any bedroom class. A listing should be checked for its actual bedroom count, utilities, concessions, and lease terms.","q":"Are the bedroom rent estimates observed rents for available units?"},{"a":"The history shows positive same-month growth over one year, three years, and five years, but the one-year pace is lower than both longer annualized measures. That is a measured deceleration relative to the longer path. The complete observation coverage supports inspection of the record, while monthly-return variability means one current ZORI value should not be overinterpreted.","q":"What does the rent history say about current direction?"},{"a":"No. It is annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin's ZIP median sold price, making it a cross-source screening ratio only. It does not use actual property rent, operating expenses, taxes, insurance, financing, vacancy loss, repairs, turnover, or transaction costs. Redfin's figure also reflects resale transactions, not rental property performance.","q":"Does the annualized rent-to-sale-price screen establish a property return?"}],"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":"2020-01-01","rent":912.923977},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":907.350843},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":919.543149},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":925.298537},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":925.235994},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":924.54846},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":918.184218},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":924.719841},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":937.815121},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":942.438009},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":955.582426},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":964.234901},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":978.79439},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":989.830699},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":995.280155},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1015.590205},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1029.105971},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1055.997083},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1072.119761},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1098.32779},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1109.113614},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1111.765218},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1113.565013},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1106.82988},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1118.292286},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1119.944141},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1139.172861},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1139.935106},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1149.170656},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1150.024252},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1159.058307},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1151.47323},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1149.090355},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1157.339426},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1155.865056},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1170.438538},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1169.458848},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1180.45498},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1184.643687},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1185.759894},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1180.687349},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1175.898931},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1180.939034},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1198.342685},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1204.94252},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1205.525269},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1205.437534},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1204.310931},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1206.266},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1209.991809},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1201.118025},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1204.242882},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1212.173685},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1216.731723},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1218.823573},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1205.879088},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1201.422417},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1201.115208},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1209.896259},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1214.971599},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1208.259252},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1198.401375},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1199.130678},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1202.937227},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1207.259199},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1206.420094},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1203.299707},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1208.406045},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1211.641192},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1212.430117},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1208.478081},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1204.765104},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1210.89276},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1216.42294},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1220.602822},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1217.897334},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1213.441254},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1214.642456}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":78,"firstPeriod":"2020-01-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":78,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1206.420094,"endRent":1214.642456,"change":0.006815504848512566,"cagr":0.006815504848512566},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1175.898931,"endRent":1214.642456,"change":0.03294800597110159,"cagr":0.010864210156618093},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1055.997083,"endRent":1214.642456,"change":0.15023277578504457,"cagr":0.028388349028359183}},"maxDrawdown":-0.016755663783014185,"annualizedVolatility":0.025722221968814477,"consecutiveReturnCount":77}}