All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Bay City, MI
Investigate Bay City if you prioritize affordability and constrained new supply; avoid it if you need strong employment or migration momentum.
Median price$189k
Median rent$1,178
Gross yield7.5%
Job growth▲ 0.3%
Composite Market ScoreRank #110 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Bay City, MI?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,178 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 3.49% from a year earlier.
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 Bay City
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay County, MIFIPS 26017 | $809 | $814 | $1,030 | $1,399 | $1,518 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Investigate Bay City if you prioritize affordability and constrained new supply; avoid it if you need strong employment or migration momentum. The $188,925 median value equals 3.06 times median income, and reported gross yield is 7.48%; those metrics support investigation but do not remove demand risk.
Opportunity comes from tight listings and little construction: months of supply is 2.8, median days on market is 16, and total permits are 46, or 0.45 per thousand residents. Median asking rent is $1,178, up 3.49% year over year, while rent equals 22.88% of median household income. That pairing allows current-rent underwriting to be checked directly against local household income.
Risk sits in weak expansion signals. CES jobs rose only 0.33%, net migration was 64 households, and movers arriving had lower average income than movers leaving. Buyers should test property-level flood exposure and insurance costs because inland flood is the dominant hazard; those costs are not published here.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What are the headline purchase and rent metrics?
Median home value is $188,925, median asking rent is $1,178, and reported gross yield is 7.48%.
What do tax filings show about household flows?
They show 2,361 households moved in and 2,297 moved out, for net migration of 64; average AGI was $50,904 inbound and $52,219 outbound.
What climate risk is identified, and are insurance costs available?
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.001292; property-level exposure and insurance costs are not published.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 7.5%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 3.49%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 5.8%
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 Bay City as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
Run cash flowStarts with this market's measured price and rentSave to shortlistCompare this metro with up to four other placesCheck rent by ZIPMove from metro context to a local rent benchmarkFind a comparison marketRead a curated two-market decision analysisShare this analysisEmail the canonical link without adding page scriptsReport a data issueSend the figure, source and release period to review
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 supply2.8 mo.▲ from 1.7 mo. a year ago
Median days on market16 days▼ from 21 days a year ago
Listings with price drops33.9%▲ from 27.9% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio100.0%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 7.1%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 3.49%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield7.5%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.3%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 steady63→63
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.
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
63| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 60 | 30% | 18.00 |
| Rent trend | 53 | 25% | 13.25 |
| Affordability | 62 | 15% | 9.30 |
| Supply pressure | 93 | 15% | 13.95 |
| Climate risk | 58 | 15% | 8.70 |
| Published score | 63 | ||
Bay City, MI scoreRank #110
63Job growth60/100
CES jobs rose 0.33% year over year -> employment is a weak demand support.
Rent trend53/100
Median asking rent rose 3.49% to $1,178 -> rent momentum is positive but modest.
Affordability62/100
Rent equals 22.88% of median household income and price is 3.06 times income -> affordability supports investigation despite softer growth signals.
Supply pressure93/100
Months of supply is 2.8, yet 33.91% of listings had price drops -> tight inventory coexists with frequent repricing.
Climate risk58/100
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.001292 -> property-level flood exposure and insurance costs require verification.
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
$189k
YoY ▲ 7.1%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,178
YoY ▲ 3.49%
Gross Rental Yield
7.5%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,178 × 12 ÷ $188,925
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.3%
CES payrolls
Job signal 60/100
Median Household Income
$62k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
22.9%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.1x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,030
Market rent 114.4% 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 benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,178Primary 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 ↗$814−$364 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 ↗$1,030−$148 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 ↗$860−$318 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 Bay City as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Bay City
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$43,030 median wage
32.9%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$29,070 median wage
48.6%
Sales and Related Occupations$35,010 median wage
40.4%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$37,730 median wage
37.5%
Production Occupations$47,240 median wage
29.9%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$82,200 median wage
17.2%
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
46 units authorised in 2026, 0% of them in 5+ unit buildings. This is a single-family building cycle, so the competition is other houses, not new apartments. ✓ 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
+64
2,361 in vs 2,297 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 2.7% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$1,315
Arriving $50,904 vs leaving $52,219
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
5.8%
64 of 1,096 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.129% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Saginaw County · Midland County · Arenac County · Tuscola County · Genesee County
✓ 2,361 in − 2,297 out = 64 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
- Saginaw, MI502 arriving
- Midland, MI336 arriving
- Detroit, MI128 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Saginaw, MI480 leaving
- Midland, MI311 leaving
- Detroit, MI155 leaving
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
- CES employment grew just 0.33% year over year, leaving little employment momentum in the current record.
- Net migration was only 64 households, and inbound movers' average AGI was $1,315 below outbound movers' average AGI.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, but the record does not publish property-level exposure or insurance costs.
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 Bay 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.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay City, MI (Target) | 63 | $189k | $1,178 | 7.5% | ▲ 0.3% |
| Lima, OH | 66 | $196k | $1,177 | 7.2% | ▲ 0.1% |
| Altoona, PA | 73 | $180k | $1,117 | 7.4% | ▼ 0.1% |
| Sunbury, PA | 73 | $177k | $1,037 | 7.0% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Albertville, AL | 39 | $249k | $1,501 | 7.2% | ▲ 0.5% |
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 |