In 98402, the June 2026 Zillow ZORI is $1,757, up 1.9% from a year earlier. This is Zillow’s ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index, blended across rental types, rather than a lease-specific rent quote. The 98402 label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. At a 30% rent-to-income arithmetic screen, that asking-rent level implies $70,280 of annual income, above the matched-area median household income of $60,505. This screen is arithmetic only, not affordability advice or an applicant qualification rule.
The historical pattern is positive but not a straight line. Exact same-month annualized ZORI change was 1.91% over one year, 1.55% over three years, and 1.86% over five years. Recent movement therefore confirms the longer upward direction, although the latest one-year pace is only modestly stronger than the medium-term path and remains below the five-year rate. Monthly rent changes produced 3.42% annualized variability, meaning one current ZORI reading deserves more confidence as a broad index level than as a precise unit-rent estimate. The largest historical peak-to-trough decline was 2.41%, a limited but real interruption in the prior path. History coverage is 100%, using 88 monthly observations and 87 consecutive returns. Transparent national discovery ranks were 1,644 for momentum, 2,149 for stability, and 2,159 for the balanced measure among history-eligible ZIPs; these are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The bedroom ladder is useful for organizing an asking-rent search, but every point is modelled rather than measured. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,457 for a studio, $1,508 for a one-bedroom, $1,757 for a two-bedroom, $2,299 for a three-bedroom, and $2,703 for a four-bedroom. These figures do not demonstrate that units at those bedroom counts were listed or leased at those amounts. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard used to create the local ladder; it is not asking rent, rental transaction evidence, or a substitute for Zillow’s blended asking-rent index.
The matched Census ZCTA adds an occupied-household lens that is materially different from listings. ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent was $1,553; gross rent is a survey measure for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, unlike current asking rent. The area had 3,801 renter-occupied homes, representing an 82.2% renter share. Of 5,007 housing units, 4,256 were in large multifamily structures, while the overall vacancy rate was 7.6% and 238 units were vacant for rent. Those figures describe area-wide stock and vacancy classifications, not availability or condition at a particular building. ACS counted 1,876 renter households with rent burden at or above the stated threshold, or 49.4% of renter households. Reported ACS margins of error also warrant restraint in treating these survey estimates as precise current conditions.
Wider geography puts the ZIP’s current ask near the Tacoma city-context rent of $1,749, below the Pierce County context of $1,962, and below the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro context of $2,269. Those city, county, and metro figures are context only, not replacements for the ZIP-level rent index or evidence about a smaller submarket. The comparison makes the ZIP’s current asking-rent level look comparatively lower than the broader county and metro readings, while the local income screen and renter burden still show pressure within the matched ZCTA household universe. Neither comparison resolves the difference between active asking rents and gross rents paid by established occupants.
The direct for-sale evidence creates a separate tension. In Redfin’s rolling three-month ZIP resale observation through the stated endpoint, median sold price was $374,915, down 13.8% year over year. The same resale observation recorded 11 homes sold with a median 18 days on market, 43 active listings, reported inventory of 24 homes, and 6.3 months of supply. Average sale-to-list was 100.99%, while 18.2% of sales closed above list price. These are ZIP for-sale market and resale-liquidity signals, not rental transactions, rental comparables, or property operating results. The price decline challenges any simple interpretation of steady rent-index growth as uniformly supported by the resale market, even as the sale-to-list measure indicates some transactions still cleared at or above list.
Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the Redfin median sold price produces a 5.62% cross-source screening ratio. It is useful only as a high-level comparison between an asking-rent index and a resale median; it is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. The ratio does not incorporate property-specific rent, vacancy, taxes, insurance, maintenance, financing, concessions, or transaction costs. The core decision tension is therefore three-sided: asking rents and longer rent history are rising modestly, the income and burden measures indicate household pressure, and the direct resale median is lower than a year earlier. None of those sources establishes the economics or marketability of a particular property.
Several limits should govern use of this ZIP report. ZORI is a blended asking-rent index, ACS is a lagged five-year occupied-household survey, HUD is an administrative standard, and Redfin is a rolling resale observation. At the property level, verify the actual bedroom count, advertised rent, lease term, utilities, concessions, availability date, unit condition, and whether recent nearby listings are truly comparable. For a purchase review, verify the address-level sale history, current list status, actual operating obligations, and the distinction between active inventory and completed sales. The unresolved question is not whether one area-wide indicator is correct, but whether a specific unit’s documented rent and costs align with these separate ZIP-level reference points.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow’s current ZIP asking-rent index is $1,757, while the 30% arithmetic screen requires annual income above the matched-area median household income. That gap is a useful affordability tension, but it does not show what any household can pay or whether any applicant qualifies. Zillow asking rents and ACS household income come from different evidence universes.","title":"Current asking rent exceeds the area income screen"},{"body":"One-, three-, and five-year same-month rent changes are all positive, supporting a broadly rising historical path. However, monthly-return variability and a recorded peak-to-trough drawdown show that the series did not move uniformly. Full history coverage improves confidence in the measurement record, not confidence that the past pattern will continue.","title":"Rent history is upward but not frictionless"},{"body":"The matched ACS ZCTA is predominantly renter occupied and contains a substantial concentration of large multifamily housing. Its overall vacancy and vacant-for-rent counts describe housing stock conditions, while the burden share describes occupied renter households. Neither statistic proves availability, affordability, condition, or rent performance for a particular unit.","title":"Renter-heavy multifamily stock coincides with broad burden"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP resale median declined from a year earlier even as Zillow’s asking-rent index increased. Resale marketing time, supply, active listings, and sale-to-list outcomes belong only to the for-sale market. The resulting contrast is important because it prevents a simple read-through from historical asking-rent growth to sale pricing or property-level economics.","title":"Resale weakness complicates the rent signal"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index, so it does not establish an achievable rent for a particular unit, bedroom count, lease length, condition, concession, or utility arrangement.","ACS matched-ZCTA figures are five-year survey estimates with reported margins of error; their gross-rent and burden results describe occupied renter households, not current listings or a specific applicant.","The resale reading comes from a limited rolling three-month ZIP observation and only completed for-sale transactions, so it cannot be used as rental evidence or as proof of property-level liquidity.","HUD bedroom standards support the modelled rent ladder but are administrative benchmarks rather than observed asking rents, signed leases, market-clearing rents, or evidence that a specific bedroom type is available."],"qa":[{"a":"The same five-digit label is used here as Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and as the matched Census ZCTA label. A ZCTA is a Census statistical area designed for tabulation and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, so ACS results should be read as matched-area context rather than delivery-route data.","q":"Why does the report distinguish the ZIP from the ZCTA?"},{"a":"No. The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates created by scaling the ZIP Zillow ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder. They help compare bedroom levels consistently, but they do not measure listings, executed leases, available units, or the rent of any identified property.","q":"Are the bedroom rent figures observed rents?"},{"a":"No. The result simply divides annualized Zillow asking rent by a 30% rent-to-income threshold. It is an arithmetic comparison with area median household income, not legal, financial, landlord, or applicant guidance. Actual household resources, lease terms, utilities, and rents can differ substantially.","q":"Does the 30% income result mean a household cannot rent in the ZIP?"},{"a":"It compares annualized ZIP Zillow ZORI with Redfin’s ZIP median sold price from a separate for-sale observation. It can flag a relationship worth checking, but it excludes unit-specific expenses, financing, vacancy, taxes, operating obligations, and transaction costs. It is not a cap rate, yield, or expected return.","q":"What does the rent-price screening ratio tell a reader?"}],"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 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