ZIP 91206 is both Zillow’s five-digit ZIP market identifier and the match for the Census ZCTA used here. A ZCTA is a statistical area, not the same thing as a USPS delivery ZIP. The current Zillow ZORI, a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, is $2,404 per month after a 0.6% year-over-year decline. Wider geography is context rather than ZIP evidence: the Glendale city-context rent is $2,732, Los Angeles County context is $2,808, and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro context is $2,927. The ZIP’s lower current asking-rent index is the central contrast, but it should not be read as a direct apartment comparison or a statement about any specific available unit.
The backward-looking Zillow history shows a cooling near-term direction against a positive longer path. Exact same-month annualized change was -0.6% over one year, compared with 1.2% over three years and 4.1% over five years. Thus, the latest movement breaks from rather than confirms the longer-run growth record. The series has full historical coverage. Annualized monthly-return variability of 3.0% indicates that past month-to-month rent-index movement was not negligible, so one current reading deserves some caution. Its maximum drawdown was 2.4%, showing the largest observed peak-to-trough retreat was limited within this available history. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 2,369 for momentum, 1,610 for stability, and 2,405 for the balanced measure; these are backward-looking discovery measures, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The matched ACS survey reports a $2,199 median gross rent, which is 9.3% below the Zillow asking-rent index. That difference is expected to some degree because ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and median gross rent includes selected utilities, whereas ZORI reflects observed asking rents. ACS also places median household income at $89,188. Applying the stated 30% screen to the current ZORI produces required annual income of $96,160 and an asking-rent-to-income result of 32.3%. This is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. Separately, 57.3% of surveyed renter households reported gross-rent burdens at or above 30% of income, an area-level condition that cannot establish affordability for a particular household or lease.
The bedroom figures are modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. They scale the ZIP ZORI using the local HUD bedroom ladder, yielding $1,864 for a studio, $1,987 for one bedroom, $2,404 for two bedrooms, $3,162 for three bedrooms, and $3,659 for four bedrooms. The local HUD two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard is $3,070, placing the modelled two-bedroom estimate 21.7% below that standard. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific benchmark rather than asking rent, so the comparison does not show that actual two-bedroom listings lease at either amount. The ladder is useful for sizing a screening scenario, but it does not substitute for unit-level rental comps.
ACS housing-stock evidence describes the matched ZCTA survey universe rather than current listing supply. Of 13,732 housing units, 12,465 were occupied, including 7,519 renter-occupied homes; renters represented 60.3% of occupied homes. The recorded vacant count was 1,267, equal to a 9.2% vacancy rate, and 330 units were categorized as vacant for rent. These counts provide a broad tenure and vacancy backdrop, but neither vacancy nor rent burden proves that a particular property is available, discounted, or affordable. Relative to the city and county context, the ZIP’s renter share sits below Glendale’s context and above Los Angeles County’s context, reinforcing that wider-area values should remain contextual rather than be used as ZIP substitutes.
Direct ZIP resale evidence creates a separate tension. In Redfin’s rolling three-month for-sale observation, median sold price was $1,274,712, down 4.6% year over year, while 38 homes sold and median marketing time was 44 days. Reported inventory was 48 homes and months of supply was 3.9. Yet average sale-to-list was 101.31%, 48.69% of sales closed above list, and 41.33% went off market within two weeks. Those are for-sale market signals, not rental transactions or rental comps. The annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is 2.26%, only a cross-source screening ratio that does not include property-specific expenses, financing, or actual unit rent. The resale price decline aligns with the recent rent-index cooling, while above-list sale signals challenge any simple characterization of uniformly weak current market conditions.
The principal decision tension is therefore not a single rent level but the contrast among a current asking index below broader context, a recent cooling history, and a resale market with mixed price and sale-to-list signals. ACS supports a material area-level burden screen, but it surveys occupied renter homes with utility-inclusive gross rent; it cannot be merged mechanically with Zillow’s asking-rent index. Likewise, the HUD ladder can organize bedroom scenarios but cannot measure the rent of a vacant apartment. A reader should place more confidence in the direction shared by the latest rent and median-sale-price changes than in a claim that every rental or sale is moving alike, because each source covers a different universe and time structure.
Property-level diligence should test the evidence that the ZIP aggregates cannot answer: the actual bedroom count, advertised asking rent, listing date, concessions, utility responsibility, lease term, and whether a unit’s location matches the ZIP identifier. For a purchase screen, verify the address-level sale history, condition, list-price changes, actual comparable sales, and whether the property could command rent comparable to the relevant modelled bedroom scenario. Confirm whether any vacancy is truly available for rent rather than merely categorized vacant in a survey. The useful question is not whether one index guarantees an outcome, but whether the specific property’s current terms remain consistent with the distinct asking-rent, survey, administrative-standard, and resale evidence.
","findings":[{"body":"The current ZIP Zillow asking-rent index declined year over year, even though the three-year and five-year same-month history remained positive. This makes the recent reading a break from the longer path rather than a continuation of it. Historical variability and drawdown measures support caution around treating one monthly rent snapshot as a durable direction.","title":"Recent rent cooling interrupts the longer trend"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI is an asking-rent index, while ACS median gross rent describes occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The current asking-rent screen exceeds the amount implied by the ZIP’s median household income at a thirty-percent ratio. Surveyed rent burden is relevant context, but it does not establish the affordability of a given household or unit.","title":"Affordability screens differ by source universe"},{"body":"Studio through four-bedroom ZIP estimates were generated by scaling the overall ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not observed asking rent. The resulting ladder is appropriate for scenario sizing, while unit-level advertised rents, lease terms, utilities, and concessions remain necessary for a real rental comparison.","title":"Bedroom figures are a structured model, not rent comps"},{"body":"The direct ZIP resale observation shows a lower median sold price year over year, which is directionally consistent with recent rent cooling. At the same time, average sale-to-list performance and above-list activity indicate that sale execution was not uniformly soft. These are for-sale metrics only; the rent-to-price calculation is a cross-source screen, not property economics.","title":"Resale signals are mixed and remain separate from rent data"}],"risks":["The Zillow index, ACS gross-rent survey, HUD administrative standard, and Redfin resale observation cover different populations, definitions, and timing. Combining them as if they were interchangeable unit-level rental comps would overstate precision.","The reported vacancy rate and vacant-for-rent count are area-level survey measures. They do not demonstrate that a particular building has an available unit, that a unit is rentable without delay, or that an owner will accept a stated rent.","Historical rent changes, variability, drawdown, and discovery ranks are backward-looking measurements. They cannot establish future asking rents, future resale prices, lease renewal outcomes, or the timing of market changes.","The resale price and annualized rent-to-price screen omit property condition, expenses, financing, taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy experience, and actual lease revenue. They should not be converted into a property-specific economic conclusion."],"qa":[{"a":"They measure different evidence universes. Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, while ACS median gross rent comes from a multi-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. Differences may therefore reflect timing, tenant occupancy, utility treatment, and the distinction between asking and occupied-home rent.","q":"Why does the Zillow asking-rent index differ from ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom values are modelled ZIP estimates created by scaling the overall Zillow asking-rent index using the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are not measured listing rents, executed leases, or evidence that a particular unit will be available at the calculated amount.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates observed rents for available apartments?"},{"a":"It is a mechanical affordability screen calculated by annualizing the current ZIP asking-rent index and dividing by thirty percent. It is not personal financial advice, a landlord’s qualification threshold, or evidence that any specific household can or cannot afford a particular rental unit.","q":"What does the thirty-percent required-income figure mean?"},{"a":"Use it as direct ZIP for-sale market context only. Median sold price, sales volume, marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list indicators describe resale transactions rather than rental transactions. The annualized ZORI-to-price figure is only a cross-source screening ratio and cannot measure property-specific income, expenses, or future outcomes.","q":"How should the Redfin resale data be used alongside rent 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 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