All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Buffalo, NY
Buffalo merits investigation for income-oriented buyers who can underwrite household outflows and flood exposure: the median value is $294,992, median asking rent is $1,461, and gross yield is 5.94%.
Median price$295k
Median rent$1,461
Gross yield5.9%
Job growth▲ 0.6%
Composite Market ScoreRank #84 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Buffalo, NY?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,461 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 3.24% 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 Buffalo
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erie County, NYFIPS 36029 | $1,105 | $1,139 | $1,343 | $1,640 | $1,869 |
| Niagara County, NYFIPS 36063 | $1,105 | $1,139 | $1,343 | $1,640 | $1,869 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Buffalo merits investigation for income-oriented buyers who can underwrite household outflows and flood exposure: the median value is $294,992, median asking rent is $1,461, and gross yield is 5.94%. Investors requiring positive net migration should avoid it.
Opportunity is constrained by mixed demand signals. CES employment grew 0.64% year over year, while asking rent rose 3.24% and home values rose 4.67%. Listings were tight at 2.6 months of supply and a 12-day median market time. For a buyer, that means competition for available homes despite employment growth trailing both housing measures.
Main risks sit outside the listing market: net migration was -2,789 households, and outbound movers had an average income $9,104 above inbound movers, calculated from the reported averages. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a 0.1209% annual building-value loss ratio. Buyers should treat quick sales as evidence of tight supply, not proof of expanding demand.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What are the basic purchase and rent economics?
The median home value is $294,992, median asking rent is $1,461 per month, and gross yield is 5.94%.
How tight is the resale market?
Supply is 2.6 months, median market time is 12 days, and the reported price-drop share is 24.02%.
What do tax filings show about migration and mover incomes?
The metro recorded 11,409 inbound households and 14,198 outbound households, for net migration of -2,789; average mover income was $61,642 inbound and $70,746 outbound.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 5.9%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 3.24%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 7.9%
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 Buffalo 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 supply2.6 mo.▲ from 1.9 mo. a year ago
Median days on market12 days▲ from 10 days a year ago
Listings with price drops24.0%▲ from 23.1% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio104.8%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 4.7%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 3.24%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.9%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.6%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 steady65→65
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 65% and rents 48%. 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
65| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 72 | 30% | 21.60 |
| Rent trend | 49 | 25% | 12.25 |
| Affordability | 52 | 15% | 7.80 |
| Supply pressure | 88 | 15% | 13.20 |
| Climate risk | 68 | 15% | 10.20 |
| Published score | 65 | ||
Buffalo, NY scoreRank #84
65Job growth72/100
CES employment grew 0.64% year over year -> the recorded job base is expanding, but more slowly than rent and home values.
Rent trend49/100
Asking rent rose 3.24% year over year -> the leasing benchmark is rising, although persistence is not published.
Affordability52/100
Median asking rent consumes 24.27% of median income and median value is 4.08 times income -> buyer and tenant affordability need separate underwriting.
Supply pressure88/100
Supply is 2.6 months and median market time is 12 days -> buyers face a tight, fast-moving resale market.
Climate risk68/100
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual loss ratio is 0.1209% -> property-level water exposure needs scrutiny.
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
$295k
YoY ▲ 4.7%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,461
YoY ▲ 3.24%
Gross Rental Yield
5.9%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,461 × 12 ÷ $294,992
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.6%
CES payrolls
Job signal 72/100
Median Household Income
$72k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
24.3%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
4.1x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,343
Market rent 108.8% 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 5 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,461Primary 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 ↗n/aUnavailable in this source release
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 ↗$1,139−$322 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 ↗$1,343−$118 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 ↗$1,057−$404 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 Buffalo as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Buffalo, NY
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 15380. 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$1,2602026-07 · +0.4% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Buffalo
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$47,800 median wage
36.7%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$36,110 median wage
48.6%
Sales and Related Occupations$37,490 median wage
46.8%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$43,690 median wage
40.1%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$88,030 median wage
19.9%
Educational Instruction and Library Occupations$59,070 median wage
29.7%
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
1,160 units authorised in 2026, 33% 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
−2,789
11,409 in vs 14,198 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 24.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$9,104
Arriving $61,642 vs leaving $70,746
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
7.9%
778 of 9,803 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.121% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Monroe County · Queens County · Chautauqua County · Cattaraugus County · Kings County
✓ 11,409 in − 14,198 out = -2,789 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
- New York, NY1,540 arriving
- Rochester, NY940 arriving
- Jamestown, NY378 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- New York, NY1,158 leaving
- Rochester, NY997 leaving
- Olean, NY402 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
- Net household migration was -2,789, with 14,198 households moving out and 11,409 moving in.
- CES employment grew 0.64% year over year, trailing rent and home-value growth.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual building-value loss ratio is 0.1209%.
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 Buffalo
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo, NY (Target) | 65 | $295k | $1,461 | 5.9% | ▲ 0.6% |
| Rochester, NY | 67 | $291k | $1,580 | 6.5% | ▲ 0.4% |
| Knoxville, TN | 42 | $370k | $1,756 | 5.7% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Tulsa, OK | 50 | $256k | $1,361 | 6.4% | ▲ 0.1% |
| Birmingham, AL | 39 | $264k | $1,462 | 6.7% | ▲ 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 |