All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Austin, TX
Austin merits investigation by patient buyers who value employment strength and affordability, but income-focused or near-term rent-growth buyers should avoid it.
Median price$427k
Median rent$1,653
Gross yield4.7%
Job growth▲ 1.4%
Composite Market ScoreRank #256 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Austin, TX?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,653 per month for 2026-06-30. That is down 1.87% from a year earlier.
Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Austin
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis County, TXFIPS 48453 | $1,474 | $1,562 | $1,852 | $2,347 | $2,760 |
| Williamson County, TXFIPS 48491 | $1,474 | $1,562 | $1,852 | $2,347 | $2,760 |
| Hays County, TXFIPS 48209 | $1,474 | $1,562 | $1,852 | $2,347 | $2,760 |
| Bastrop County, TXFIPS 48021 | $1,474 | $1,562 | $1,852 | $2,347 | $2,760 |
| Caldwell County, TXFIPS 48055 | $1,474 | $1,562 | $1,852 | $2,347 | $2,760 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Austin merits investigation by patient buyers who value employment strength and affordability, but income-focused or near-term rent-growth buyers should avoid it. CES employment rose 1.39% year over year; the median home value is $426,944 and gross yield is 4.65%. This pairs a positive job signal with modest current income.
The central risk is weak pricing power alongside the permit pipeline and buyer leverage. Asking rent fell 1.87%, permits totaled 21,012, and inventory stood at 5.2 months. Homes took 58 days to sell, with price drops on 35.78% of listings; the median value also fell 5.71%. Negotiating room is an opportunity, not evidence that rents have stabilized.
Affordability and migration offer counterweights. Rent equals 19.75% of median household income, while tax filings show net migration of 13,431 households. Climate data report an annual loss ratio of 0.1182%, with inland flood the dominant hazard. Underwriting should separate renter affordability from property-specific flood exposure and negative rent momentum.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What do the current purchase economics look like?
The median home value is $426,944, median asking rent is $1,653 per month, and gross yield is 4.65%.
How much buyer leverage is visible?
Inventory is 5.2 months, median time on market is 58 days, and 35.78% of listings had price drops.
Is household migration adding or subtracting residents?
Tax filings show 72,907 households moved in and 59,476 moved out, producing net migration of 13,431 households.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 4.7%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▼ 1.87%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 9.8%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Austin as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
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Market pulse
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.
Months of supply5.2 mo.▼ from 5.5 mo. a year ago
Median days on market58 days▲ from 56 days a year ago
Listings with price drops35.8%▼ from 36.3% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio97.6%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 5.7%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▼ 1.87%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield4.7%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 1.4%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady51→51
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
The one chart
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.
Reindexed Price vs. Rent Growth
2019 = 100 · annual · 2019–2026
Since 2019, prices are up 33% and rents 16%. Prices running ahead of rents is what compresses yield. ✓ recomputed from series
Composite breakdown
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.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
51| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 90 | 30% | 27.00 |
| Rent trend | 2 | 25% | 0.50 |
| Affordability | 83 | 15% | 12.45 |
| Supply pressure | 5 | 15% | 0.75 |
| Climate risk | 71 | 15% | 10.65 |
| Published score | 51 | ||
Austin, TX scoreRank #256
51Job growth90/100
CES employment grew 1.39% year over year -> the labor-market signal is positive despite weakness elsewhere.
Rent trend2/100
Asking rent fell 1.87% and gross yield is 4.65% -> rent momentum is negative and current income is modest.
Affordability83/100
Rent is 19.75% of median income and price is 4.25 times income -> income coverage is a relative strength in the record.
Supply pressure5/100
Permits totaled 21,012 and inventory reached 5.2 months -> buyers may have negotiating leverage while landlords face supply competition.
Climate risk71/100
The annual climate loss ratio is 0.1182%, with inland flood the dominant hazard -> property-level flood exposure and insurance terms require review.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$427k
YoY ▼ 5.7%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,653
YoY ▼ 1.87%
Gross Rental Yield
4.7%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,653 × 12 ÷ $426,944
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 1.4%
CES payrolls
Job signal 90/100
Median Household Income
$100k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
19.8%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
4.3x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,852
Market rent 89.3% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark5 of 5 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,653Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$1,371−$282 vs ZORI
2026-05
Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings
The median advertised rent in Realtor.com's 50-largest-metro rental report; source NAs remain unavailable.
View source release ↗$1,562−$91 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,852+$199 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,726+$73 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Austin as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Austin, TX
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 12420. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.
Direct recent-lease rent history
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Recent-lease rent$1,2952026-07 · -3.7% year over year
Rental vacancy9.5%2026-07 · -0.4 percentage points year over year
Time on market39 days2026-07 · +2.0 days year over year
Measured rent retention
How much of gross yield survives the first two measured deductions?
This bridge subtracts direct rental vacancy and effective property tax only. It is not net yield, NOI, cap rate or property cash flow.
measured retention property tax vacancy
- Gross yield
- 4.6%
- Vacancy
- 9.5%
- Effective tax
- 1.5%
- Retained yield
- 2.7%
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Austin
BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.
BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Occupation wage lens
How asking rent sits against major local occupations
Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.
Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$47,770 median wage
41.5%
Management Occupations$129,060 median wage
15.4%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$33,280 median wage
59.6%
Sales and Related Occupations$43,140 median wage
46.0%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations$81,080 median wage
24.5%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$43,300 median wage
45.8%
Supply pipeline
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.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
20,458 units authorised in 2026, 20% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
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.
Net Household Move
+13,431
72,907 in vs 59,476 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 18.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$1,533
Arriving $100,732 vs leaving $99,199
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
9.8%
3,471 of 35,263 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.118% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Harris County · Bexar County · Dallas County · Bell County · Los Angeles County
✓ 72,907 in − 59,476 out = 13,431 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Houston, TX7,107 arriving
- Dallas, TX6,408 arriving
- San Antonio, TX5,295 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- San Antonio, TX6,106 leaving
- Dallas, TX5,664 leaving
- Houston, TX5,331 leaving
Directional moving briefs
Relocation routes involving Austin
Each route begins with a direct IRS tax-return household flow and then tests what changes in housing, income, jobs, regional prices and climate evidence.
The other side
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
- Median asking rent fell 1.87% year over year, weakening current rent momentum.
- Supply is elevated in the record, with 21,012 permits and 5.2 months of inventory.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1182%.
Inside this metro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
County records
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Austin
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.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin, TX (Target) | 51 | $427k | $1,653 | 4.7% | ▲ 1.4% |
| Raleigh, NC | 57 | $438k | $1,689 | 4.6% | ▲ 2.1% |
| Sacramento, CA | 49 | $584k | $2,308 | 4.7% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 52 | $567k | $1,638 | 3.5% | ▲ 1.3% |
| Minneapolis, MN | 62 | $396k | $1,727 | 5.2% | ▲ 0.2% |
Provenance
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 and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| 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 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| 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 history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| 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 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| 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 - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |