Brenham, TX cityscape
Markets / Texas / Brenham
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Brenham, TX

Investigate Brenham selectively if you can negotiate hard and underwrite flat rents; avoid it if your plan requires immediate rent growth or minimal water-hazard exposure.

Median price$376k
Median rent$1,713
Gross yield5.5%
Job growth▲ 1.3%
Micro Area · CBSA 1478040 public sourcesChecked nightly
SCORE / 10046RANK #327 / 571
Composite Market ScoreRank #327 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer

How much is rent in Brenham, TX?

Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,713 per month for 2026-06-30. That is down 0.58% from a year earlier.

Zillow ZORI$1,7132026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

Census ACS gross rent$1,165ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

HUD 2BR FMR$1,309FY2026 FMR

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 Brenham

Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.

FY2026 FMR · FY2026 · monthly gross-rent standards
CountyStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR
Washington County, TXFIPS 48477$991$998$1,309$1,692$1,733
The read

Why this market scores where it does

Investigate Brenham selectively if you can negotiate hard and underwrite flat rents; avoid it if your plan requires immediate rent growth or minimal water-hazard exposure. LAUS employment rose 1.31% year over year, yet median asking rent fell 0.58%, so labor strength has not translated into stronger advertised rents.

At a $375,952 median home value and $1,713 monthly asking rent, reported gross yield is 5.47%. Rent equals 26.41% of median income, which supports tenant affordability, but the income case remains thin while rents are declining. Positive net migration provides a demand signal, not proof of higher rents.

Buyers may have leverage: months of supply is 6.0, median market time is 111 days, and 26.35% of listings show price drops. That opportunity comes with slower resale conditions. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1158%, requiring property-level flood and insurance review.

Frequently Asked Investor Questions

Is household migration positive?
Yes. 1,091 households moved in and 827 moved out, producing net migration of 264.
Do incoming movers have higher incomes than outgoing movers?
Average income was $121,685 for incoming movers and $62,649 for outgoing movers, a reported gap of $59,036.
How active are investors in the purchase market?
Non-occupants represented 10.53% of purchase mortgages, and total purchases were 361.

Investor Quick Takeaways

Gross Yield: 5.5%

Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.

Rent Momentum: ▼ 0.58%

Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.

Investor Activity: 10.5%

Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).

Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI

Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.

Run Cash-Flow Test for Brenham
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 supply6.0 mo.▲ from 4.2 mo. a year ago
Median days on market111 days▲ from 48 days a year ago
Listings with price drops26.4%▼ from 36.6% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio95.0%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 0.6%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▼ 0.58%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.5%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 1.3%LAUS · 12m to 2026-05
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 steady4646
0 pts

The 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.

Jobs87Rent trend5Affordability38Supply14Climate safety73
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
46
SignalScoreWeightPoints
Job growth8730%26.10
Rent trend525%1.25
Affordability3815%5.70
Supply pressure1415%2.10
Climate risk7315%10.95
Published score46
Brenham, TX scoreRank #327
46
Job growth87/100

LAUS employment increased 1.31% year over year -> labor demand is a positive signal, but it has not been matched by rent growth.

Rent trend5/100

Median asking rent was $1,713 and declined 0.58% year over year, with a 5.47% gross yield -> underwrite current income without assuming rent increases.

Affordability38/100

Rent was 26.41% of median income while home value was 4.83 times income -> tenant affordability is stronger than buyer affordability.

Supply pressure14/100

Months of supply was 6.0, median market time was 111 days, and 26.35% of listings had price drops -> buyers may have negotiating room, while resale can be slow.

Climate risk73/100

Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1158% -> screen each asset for flood exposure and insurance cost.

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
$376k
YoY ▲ 0.6%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,713
YoY ▼ 0.58%
Gross Rental Yield
5.5%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,713 × 12 ÷ $375,952
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 1.3%
LAUS payrolls
Job signal 87/100
Median Household Income
$78k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
26.4%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
4.8x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,309
Market rent 130.8% 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
Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$438$875$1,313$1,750Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,713HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$998HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,309Census ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,165Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$875$1,750Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,713HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$998HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,309ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,165
The chart compares published levels without averaging them. A longer bar does not mean a source is more accurate; it means that source measures a higher rent under its own definition.
Typical observed market rentZillow ZORI
$1,713Primary 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 ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 1BR FMR
$998−$715 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 ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 2BR FMR
$1,309−$404 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 ↗
Median gross rentCensus ACS gross rent
$1,165−$548 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 Brenham as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.

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
Download CSV ↓
1072024194202513820265+ unit buildingssingle family
138 units authorised in 2026, 7% 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
Source: Census Building Permits Survey
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
+264
1,091 in vs 827 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 24.2% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$59,036
Arriving $121,685 vs leaving $62,649
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
10.5%
38 of 361 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.116% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →
Households arrive mainly from: Harris County · Austin County · Brazos County · Travis County · Fort Bend County
1,091 in − 827 out = 264 net
Direct 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.

Explore every route
Leading inbound markets
  1. Houston, TX472 arriving
  2. College Station, TX99 arriving
  3. Austin, TX74 arriving
Leading outbound markets
  1. Houston, TX239 leaving
  2. College Station, TX130 leaving
  3. Austin, TX52 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

  1. Median asking rent declined 0.58% year over year, weakening the income-growth case.
  2. Inventory and liquidity signals are soft, with 6.0 months of supply and 111 median days on market.
  3. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1158%.
Statistical peers

Market areas that behave like Brenham

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 areaScorePriceRentYieldJob Growth
Brenham, TX (Target)46$376k$1,7135.5%▲ 1.3%
Vernal, UT65$360k$1,4224.7%▲ 0.9%
Elko, NV69$372k$1,5074.9%▲ 1.6%
Kerrville, TX50$375k$1,8335.9%▲ 0.9%
Gainesville, TX65$323k$1,7416.5%▲ 1.4%
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 SourceMethodRelease PeriodPulled Date
Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rentdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — historical household incomedirectACS 2019 and 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — populationdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-26
Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent indexdirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquiditydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
BEA County Personal Income — income and populationdirect2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-20242026-08-03
BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levelsdirect2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-20242026-08-03
BLS CES — payroll employmentdirectCES SM current2026-07-26
BLS LAUS — resident employmentdirectLAUS current2026-07-26
BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wagesdirectMay 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15)2026-08-03
BLS QCEW — county employment and wagesdirectannual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 20242026-08-02
OMB/BLS delineation — metro geographydirectOMB July 2023 delineation2026-07-30
Census Building Permits Survey — permitted unitsdirectBPS through 20262026-07-26
Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-29
Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stockdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and incomedirectACS 2024 5-year ZCTA2026-08-08
FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratiosmodelledNRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS)2026-07-26
FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciationdirectannual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 20252026-08-02
HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy typedirectHMDA 2024 purchase originations2026-07-26
HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income banddirectHUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23)2026-08-03
HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standarddirectFY2026 FMR2026-07-26
HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallbackdirectZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY20262026-07-26
HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalkdirectHUD-USPS 2026Q12026-08-09
IRS SOI — county migration and mover incomedirectSOI migration 2022-20232026-07-26
Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage ratesdirectweek of 2026-07-302026-08-06
Census ACS 5-year — effective property taxdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-06
Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventorydirectcounty inventory 2026-062026-07-28
Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rentsdirecttop-50 rental asking rents 2026-052026-08-05
Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cutsdirectmetro tracker through 2026-05-012026-07-26
Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supplydirectZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-032026-08-12
USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum CodesdirectUSDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes2026-08-02
Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rentsdirectcounty ZHVI/ZORI 2026-062026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — metro home valuesdirectMetro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — city home valuesdirectzillow_zhvi_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI — metro market rentsdirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZORI — city market rentsdirectzillow_zori_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusteddirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv2026-08-15
Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rentsdirectZORI ZIP 2026-062026-08-08