At 97124, the distinctive decision question is how to read a current asking-rent benchmark that has softened while other rent series describe different populations and purposes. Zillow’s June 2026 ZORI is $1,859 per month, a 4.2% decline from a year earlier. It is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it frames current asking-market conditions rather than a guaranteed quote for any dwelling. The five-digit label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, a distinction that matters when assessing whether a particular address is in scope.
Bedrooms supply a more usable comparison, but not a measured rent schedule. Scaling the ZIP ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder yields modelled estimates of $1,519 for a studio, $1,622 for one bedroom, $1,859 for two bedrooms, $2,533 for three bedrooms, and $3,007 for four bedrooms each month. The increase is uneven because it follows the HUD ladder rather than a fitted set of local listing medians. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents: a property may price differently according to condition, lease terms, utility treatment, availability, or other unreported attributes. Their purpose is to make bedroom comparisons internally consistent with the all-type ZIP ZORI.
On a simple annualized calculation, the benchmark corresponds to $74,360 in household income for the 30% required-income screen. That screen is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. The matched ZCTA’s median household income is $110,067, making the benchmark 20.3% of that median on the same arithmetic basis; the median is not a measure of prospective renters’ income. Of 21,478 occupied homes, 11,473 are renter occupied, a 53.4% renter share. Within the observed renter universe, 4,869 households, or 42.4%, reported gross-rent burdens at or above the screen in the ACS 2024 five-year survey. That burden is a population-level observation, not evidence about a particular household or unit.
The current index should not be merged with ACS or HUD. The ACS median gross rent is $2,018 and has a published ACS margin of error; it comes from a five-year survey of occupied renter homes, not asking listings, and gross rent includes selected utilities. Zillow’s level is 7.9% below that ACS median, but the difference does not establish a market movement because the universes, timing, and rent definitions differ. Separately, the FY2026 local HUD two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR standard is $1,922, putting ZORI 3.3% below it. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent, so it neither confirms an available unit’s price nor substitutes for the Zillow or ACS measure.
Inventory data describe the matched ZCTA’s stock rather than live listings. It has 22,192 housing units, of which 21,478 are occupied and 714 are vacant, for a 3.2% all-unit vacancy rate. Reported vacant categories include 270 units for rent and 75 for sale, while other vacancy categories account for the balance. The structure mix includes 12,648 single-family units and 4,129 units in large multifamily structures. This composition clarifies the stock represented in the area-level survey, but the for-rent vacancy count is not proof that a specific dwelling is vacant, advertised, attainable, or offered at the ZORI level.
Broader benchmarks set context but are not replacements for ZIP evidence. Hillsboro city context shows typical asking rent of about $1,902, Washington County context shows $1,911, and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metro context shows $1,805; the ZIP benchmark is below the city and county context and above the metro context. Hillsboro city context has a 46.1% observed burden share, while Washington County context has a 49.3% observed burden share. The metro context’s 6.4% apartment vacancy rate is a rental-segment metric, unlike the ZCTA’s all-unit vacancy measure, so the two should not be treated as interchangeable. These comparisons establish relative scale only and do not transfer city, county, or metro conditions to a ZIP address.
Key limits are temporal, geographic, and definitional. ZORI is an index rather than a menu of available apartments; ACS is a surveyed, multi-year description with sampling uncertainty; and HUD standards serve an administrative function. None can identify the rent, bedroom classification, or utility package for a particular property. Concrete property-level checks are the advertised base rent, bedroom count, included and excluded utilities, recurring and nonrecurring charges, concession conditions and expiration, lease length, availability date, occupancy restrictions, and the property address’s fit with the relevant ZIP and ZCTA geography. Confirming whether the quoted unit is comparable with the rental type embedded in ZORI preserves separation between the market index, household survey, and administrative standard.
","findings":[{"body":"June 2026 ZORI is $1,859 and is down 4.2% year over year. That is the ZIP-level asking-rent signal, not a lease quote. Because it is blended across rental types, it can indicate movement in the index while leaving bedroom, utilities, condition, concessions, and availability unresolved for an individual property.","title":"Current asking-rent signal is softer"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom series is generated by applying the local HUD ladder to the ZIP ZORI. It produces a coherent modelled range, but it does not measure actual bedroom rents. The underlying HUD standard is administrative rather than a listing series, so a unit’s observed price, utilities, and lease structure can diverge from the modelled estimate.","title":"Bedroom figures are HUD-scaled model outputs"},{"body":"The required-income figure is simply the annual income associated with the ZORI under a 30% rent share. ACS supplies separate context through median household income, renter share, and the share of renter households reporting higher gross-rent burdens. Those survey results describe households in the ZCTA and cannot determine an applicant’s income, burden, or eligibility.","title":"Burden measures households, not applicants"},{"body":"ZCTA stock and vacancy figures separate occupied units from vacant units and identify some vacancy categories, including units reported for rent. They are not real-time listing inventory. Hillsboro city, Washington County, and Portland metro figures expand comparison scope, but their geographic and metric definitions do not replace ZIP-level conditions or establish anything about a specific address.","title":"Vacancy and context require scope discipline"}],"risks":["ZORI blends rental types and is an index of typical observed asking rents, so it cannot establish an advertised price, concession, utility treatment, availability, or bedroom layout for a specific property.","ACS data are a five-year surveyed estimate for occupied renter homes, with sampling uncertainty and selected-utility gross-rent treatment, so they are not a contemporaneous record of current asking rents or vacancy listings.","HUD FMR/SAFMR values are a bedroom-specific administrative standard rather than asking rent. Treating them as market quotes or treating HUD-scaled bedroom estimates as measured rents would misstate the evidence.","The matched ZCTA is a statistical geography rather than a USPS delivery ZIP, and city, county, and metro context values have wider scopes that may not match a property address."],"qa":[{"a":"Zillow reports a typical observed asking-rent index for the ZIP at a point in time. It blends rental types and provides a benchmark for current advertised-market conditions. It does not provide a list of available units, utility packages, fees, lease terms, or a price guaranteed at a particular address.","q":"What does the current Zillow figure represent?"},{"a":"No. The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates obtained by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. The ladder establishes relative bedroom proportions for the model; it does not observe local bedroom listing medians or measure what a particular property is asking.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates measured rents?"},{"a":"ACS median gross rent comes from a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, so it is not an asking-rent series. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard. ZORI is a blended, typical observed asking-rent index. Different populations, definitions, and uses make direct substitution inappropriate.","q":"Why do Zillow, ACS, and HUD rent figures differ?"},{"a":"Relevant property-level facts are the advertised base rent, bedroom count, utility inclusions and exclusions, recurring and nonrecurring charges, concession conditions, lease length, availability date, occupancy restrictions, and exact address. These facts determine whether an advertised unit is comparable with an area-level index, surveyed gross-rent statistic, or administrative benchmark.","q":"What property-level facts remain unobserved by the area data?"}],"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":"2016-05-01","rent":1400.795297},{"period":"2016-06-01","rent":1395.163383},{"period":"2016-07-01","rent":1399.132691},{"period":"2016-08-01","rent":1405.445344},{"period":"2016-09-01","rent":1422.142091},{"period":"2016-10-01","rent":1428.75403},{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1424.921302},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1419.671915},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1425.811364},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1440.969285},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1452.68722},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1457.706663},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1462.905927},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1466.814748},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1469.025477},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1469.012081},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1472.728825},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1474.128062},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1476.970666},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1478.66251},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1480.746025},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1481.773187},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1488.3914},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1490.119392},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1492.550519},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1495.869726},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1497.25689},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1491.528441},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1489.235747},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1505.395127},{"period":"2018-11-01","rent":1513.992557},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1527.307976},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1516.477766},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1514.145094},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1511.256911},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1517.550115},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1520.130198},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1525.879019},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1532.454484},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1544.744836},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1551.512272},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1546.651016},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1548.55469},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1548.401747},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1564.509643},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1574.554194},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1587.582047},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1580.551904},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1560.784944},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1554.980521},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1549.222709},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1552.052957},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1550.575949},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1560.572816},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1573.321965},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1591.309951},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1608.892766},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1615.657758},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1617.848406},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1641.627781},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1679.618299},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1721.623533},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1752.027442},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1787.670304},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1823.309877},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1854.616455},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1876.21162},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1901.368658},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1910.908131},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1926.99477},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1932.731919},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1949.959819},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1957.650537},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1973.794149},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1991.349479},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":2006.389393},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":2004.763445},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1991.85304},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1995.468177},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1987.898174},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1984.931828},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1977.711298},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1987.907278},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1976.523139},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1954.637701},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1915.033642},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1898.952452},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1891.910221},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1907.000201},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1921.750192},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1914.740138},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1915.119498},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1930.956215},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1961.003104},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1970.130879},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1978.211635},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1998.273888},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":2027.036179},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2043.403528},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2031.268105},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2001.363434},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1978.417776},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1977.753281},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1965.884556},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1961.086088},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1941.099679},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1940.91271},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1938.498661},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1945.38621},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1940.442625},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1932.476931},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1939.332719},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1949.706518},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1956.150217},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1952.229222},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1953.621842},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1940.63532},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1931.702406},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1913.731944},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1900.589678},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1876.274746},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1858.622759}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":122,"firstPeriod":"2016-05-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":122,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1940.442625,"endRent":1858.622759,"change":-0.04216556828110274,"cagr":-0.04216556828110274},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1915.033642,"endRent":1858.622759,"change":-0.029456862669569706,"cagr":-0.009916975527170524},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1721.623533,"endRent":1858.622759,"change":0.07957560022502319,"cagr":0.015431454227466057}},"maxDrawdown":-0.09042793871500054,"annualizedVolatility":0.02698645263622698,"consecutiveReturnCount":121}}