For an evaluator of 98012, the distinctive decision question is whether a current ZIP-wide asking-rent benchmark is compatible with the target unit’s bedroom configuration and the household’s own finances, while recognizing that none of the aggregate series prices a specific property. The June 2026 Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) is $2,640 per month, up 1.45% from a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, making it a current market signal rather than a promise for an available home. The ZIP label matches a Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. That geographic distinction matters whenever survey results below are read beside the Zillow ZIP market identifier.
The matched ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA offers income and renter-household evidence, not a readout of current listings. Median household income was $146,144, and renter-occupied households represented 33.6% of occupied homes. Within the ACS occupied-renter universe, 45.2% reported gross rent consuming 30% or more of income; that is an observed household burden measure, not evidence about any vacant or particular unit. Applying that share mechanically to the ZIP ZORI produces $105,600 in annual income. The corresponding annual ZORI-to-median-household-income comparison is 21.7%. Both calculations are aggregate screens: the required-income figure is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule, while the income ratio does not describe any individual household’s payment.
These rent series should remain separate, even when the dollar gap is useful. The ACS median gross rent is $2,373; it is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The current ZORI sits 11.3% above it, but the contrast mixes a current asking-rent index with a multi-year survey statistic, different housing universes, and potentially different utility treatment; it is not a time-series comparison. FY2026 HUD Fair Market Rent or Small Area Fair Market Rent is likewise distinct: its two-bedroom standard is $2,501, and ZORI is 5.6% higher. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent, so it must not be treated as confirmation of a listing’s market price or an ACS result.
Bedroom planning requires a different, explicitly modelled view. The local HUD ladder runs from $2,074 for a studio to $3,847 for a four-bedroom home, with two bedrooms as the scale anchor. Scaling the ZIP ZORI by the local HUD ladder yields modelled monthly ZIP estimates in studio-through-four-bedroom order: $2,189, $2,265, $2,640, $3,454, and $4,061, respectively. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents: the ZIP index is allocated across bedroom counts using the HUD ladder rather than observed bedroom-specific listings. The two-bedroom estimate equals the ZIP index because it is the scaling anchor. The widening upper-bedroom figures reflect the administrative ladder’s relative steps, not proof that every larger property asks those amounts.
Stock and vacancy describe the survey’s housing-unit composition rather than immediate rental supply. Single-family units account for 68.7% of the ZCTA housing stock, while units in large multifamily structures account for 12.9%. The ZCTA reports 771 vacant units, a 2.7% vacancy rate. Of those vacancies, 274 were designated for rent, 114 for sale, and 41 seasonal. These categories do not state condition, asking price, lease readiness, or bedroom count. In particular, a vacant-for-rent count is not evidence that any individual unit is available or that its rent aligns with ZORI, ACS gross rent, HUD standards, or the modelled bedroom estimates.
At the city scope, Bothell’s context rent is $2,685; at the county scope, Snohomish County’s context rent is $2,232; and at the metro scope, Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA’s context rent is $2,269. Thus the ZIP index is close to the city-scope figure and above the county- and metro-scope figures, but each is wider context only, not a substitute for the ZIP market identifier. Their geographies, housing mixes, and underlying observation universes may differ. The metro scope separately reports apartment vacancy, which is a property-subset indicator and should not be equated with the ZCTA’s all-housing-unit vacancy measure. Context helps frame scale; it does not establish a unit-level price, supply condition, or outcome.
Limits are material. ZORI is an index rather than a listing, ACS estimates have survey timing and sampling uncertainty, HUD is an administrative standard, and the bedroom ladder is a scaling model. Before attaching any conclusion to a property, verify that its delivery location falls within the relevant ZIP market identifier, its advertised bedroom count and monthly asking rent, whether quoted rent includes utilities or other recurring charges, lease term and availability date, and any deposits, concessions, or occupancy terms shown in the listing. Compare those facts separately with the appropriate benchmark: current all-type ZORI, the modelled bedroom estimate, ACS occupied-renter gross rent, or HUD standard. The burden and vacancy statistics describe groups and categories, not a specific home or a household’s approval, affordability, or experience.
","findings":[{"body":"June 2026 ZORI of $2,640 is a blended ZIP asking-rent index. ACS median gross rent of $2,373 describes occupied renter homes over the ACS 2024 5-year survey and includes selected utilities. The gap is useful context, but it cannot be read as a same-unit rent change or as evidence that a live listing is overpriced or underpriced.","title":"Current index and survey rent are distinct"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom values are modelled monthly estimates created by scaling ZIP ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. The two-bedroom output is the anchor because the ZIP index is scaled from the local HUD two-bedroom standard. These estimates convey relative bedroom sizing under the model, not measured asking rents for listed units.","title":"Bedroom figures are scaling outputs"},{"body":"The required annual income associated with applying a 30% rent share to ZORI is an arithmetic result, not a qualification standard. Median household income and renter burden come from ACS survey households, while ZORI reflects a current asking-rent index. Neither comparison identifies a household’s income, payment, approval outcome, or actual lease terms.","title":"Income screen is aggregate arithmetic"},{"body":"The reported vacancy rate and vacancy categories describe the ZCTA housing stock in the ACS survey framework. Vacant-for-rent units are a category count, not verified active listings. The data do not identify unit condition, bedroom count, utility treatment, move-in date, asking price, or whether a particular property remains available.","title":"Vacancy is composition, not live inventory"}],"risks":["The current Zillow index is ZIP-wide and blended across rental types, so a particular property can differ because the index neither identifies a bedroom count nor captures listing terms or utility treatment.","ACS evidence is historical five-year survey evidence for occupied renter homes, while the ZCTA is statistical rather than a USPS delivery geography; both timing and geography limit direct listing comparison.","HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative standard rather than asking rent, and the bedroom figures inherit its relative ladder; neither source measures the rent requested for a particular available home.","Vacancy category counts and wider city, county, or metro context do not establish availability, pricing, condition, affordability, or renter outcomes for an individual property or household."],"qa":[{"a":"It measures a typical observed asking-rent index for the ZIP market identifier in June 2026, blended across rental types. It is not a quoted rent for an identified unit, and it does not reveal bedroom mix, utility inclusions, lease terms, concessions, availability, or applicant requirements.","q":"What does the current ZIP rent measure?"},{"a":"ACS median gross rent comes from ACS 2024 5-year responses for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. ZORI is a current ZIP asking-rent index. Because timing, surveyed population, rent definition, and geography differ, their dollar difference is a contextual cross-source contrast, not a measured market change.","q":"Why should ACS median gross rent not be treated as a current listing benchmark?"},{"a":"Each modelled estimate scales the ZIP ZORI using the relative local HUD bedroom ladder, with the two-bedroom rung serving as the anchor. This transfers HUD’s relative structure to the all-type index; it does not observe studio, one-bedroom, or larger-unit asking rents in the ZIP.","q":"How are the bedroom estimates produced?"},{"a":"Confirm the property’s ZIP-market location, bedroom count, advertised monthly rent, utility inclusions, recurring charges, lease term, availability date, deposits, concessions, and occupancy terms. Then keep comparisons separate: use ZORI for all-type asking-rent context, the modelled ladder for bedroom scaling, ACS for occupied-renter survey context, and HUD for its administrative standard.","q":"Which property-level facts remain necessary to check?"}],"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 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