Atlantic City, NJ
Atlantic City merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak affordability, outward migration, and water-related property risk.
Why this market scores where it does
Written from the figures on this page and then checked against them: every number below had to appear in the source record or recompute from two that did, or the text was rewritten.
Atlantic City merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak affordability, outward migration, and water-related property risk. Buyers prioritizing easy resale or low hazard exposure should avoid it. Median asking rent is $2,085, supporting a 6.45% gross yield, while rent rose 4.36%.
The opportunity is operating income backed by positive employment and rent signals. CES employment rose 1.63%, and asking rent exceeds the two-bedroom fair-market rent of $1,829.50. That spread may indicate room for competitively priced units, but it does not establish achievable rent for any specific property.
The risks affect both acquisition discipline and exit flexibility. Median value is $387,888, equal to 4.72 times median income, while net migration was -514 households. Buyers also face 5.2 months of supply and inland-flood exposure. Underwrite insurance, property-level flood conditions, achievable rent, and resale liquidity before treating the headline yield as durable.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What is the income proposition at the metro level?
Do demand indicators point in the same direction?
What should a buyer verify before selecting a property?
Investor Quick Takeaways
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Atlantic City as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 93 | 30% | 27.90 |
| Rent trend | 65 | 25% | 16.25 |
| Affordability | 17 | 15% | 2.55 |
| Supply pressure | 19 | 15% | 2.85 |
| Climate risk | 24 | 15% | 3.60 |
| Published score | 53 | ||
Job: 1.63% CES employment growth -> labor demand is a supportive operating signal, but the record does not show which industries or neighborhoods benefited.
Rent: 4.36% asking-rent growth and a 6.45% gross yield -> income potential is the clearest opportunity, though gross yield excludes vacancies, expenses, financing, and property-specific condition.
Afford: rent consumes 30.47% of median household income and price is 4.72 times income -> tenants and local buyers may have limited room to absorb higher housing costs.
Supply: 1,372 permits, 5.2 months of listings, and 63 median days on market -> buyers have signs of choice, while sellers may face slower or more competitive exits.
Climate: a 0.1945% annual building-value loss ratio with inland flood as the dominant hazard -> insurance terms and property-level water exposure require direct verification before purchase.
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- Demand could underperform the positive job and rent readings because tax filings show 7,549 households moved out while 7,035 moved in, producing net migration of -514.
- Affordability could constrain rent increases and resale demand: median rent is 30.47% of median household income, and median value is 4.72 times income.
- Returns could be reduced by inland-flood exposure, while 5.2 months of supply, 63 median days on market, and price drops on 21.61% of listings could complicate an exit.
Move from the metro average to local evidence
County pages carry tax, migration, listing and hazard records. City pages appear only where direct city price, rent and Census evidence pass the publication gate.
No city in this metro has passed the current city evidence gate.
Metros that behave like Atlantic City
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Metro | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic City, NJ (Target) | 53 | $388k | $2,085 | 6.5% | ▲ 1.6% |
| Savannah, GA | 31 | $347k | $1,820 | 6.3% | ▲ 0.8% |
| Tyler, TX | 59 | $274k | $1,426 | 6.3% | ▲ 1.5% |
| Yuba City, CA | 55 | $434k | $2,011 | 5.6% | ▲ 2.1% |
| Kingston, NY | 63 | $451k | $2,069 | 5.5% | ▲ 1.3% |
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-07-31 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI 2025 | 2026-07-28 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-23 | 2026-07-27 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-27 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |