All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak demand signals; investors relying on rapid rent growth or strong in-migration should avoid treating it as an easy expansion market.
Median price$313k
Median rent$1,583
Gross yield6.1%
Job growth▲ 0.2%
Composite Market ScoreRank #193 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Cincinnati, OH?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,583 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 2.90% 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 Cincinnati
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton County, OHFIPS 39061 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Butler County, OHFIPS 39017 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Warren County, OHFIPS 39165 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Clermont County, OHFIPS 39025 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Kenton County, KYFIPS 21117 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Boone County, KYFIPS 21015 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Campbell County, KYFIPS 21037 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Dearborn County, INFIPS 18029 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Brown County, OHFIPS 39015 | $797 | $802 | $1,008 | $1,361 | $1,691 |
| Grant County, KYFIPS 21081 | $823 | $899 | $1,155 | $1,385 | $1,678 |
| Franklin County, INFIPS 18047 | $796 | $861 | $1,117 | $1,473 | $1,479 |
| Pendleton County, KYFIPS 21191 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Gallatin County, KYFIPS 21077 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Bracken County, KYFIPS 21023 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
| Ohio County, INFIPS 18115 | $958 | $1,051 | $1,353 | $1,785 | $1,976 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Cincinnati merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak demand signals; investors relying on rapid rent growth or strong in-migration should avoid treating it as an easy expansion market. The median home value is $313,303, median asking rent is $1,583, and gross yield is 6.06%.
Affordability is the opportunity. Rent consumes 23.41% of median household income, while the price-to-income ratio is 3.86. That leaves a measurable tenant affordability cushion. However, asking-rent growth of 2.9% is paired with job growth of only 0.22%, so current economics deserve more weight than assumed improvement.
Execution risk is mixed. Inventory stands at 2.4 months, yet 26.35% of listings have price drops, giving buyers a reason to test seller flexibility rather than infer broad scarcity. Net migration is negative, and outbound movers have higher average income than inbound movers. Favor deals that work at today’s rent and verify inland-flood exposure property by property.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Does the headline property income support a rental acquisition?
The published median home value is $313,303 and median asking rent is $1,583 per month, corresponding to a 6.06% gross yield. That is before operating costs, financing, vacancy, repairs, taxes, insurance, and property-specific rent differences, none of which are published in the record.
Is there evidence that buyers can negotiate despite limited inventory?
Yes, but it is mixed rather than conclusive. For-sale inventory is 2.4 months and median market time is 37 days, while 26.35% of listings record price drops. The combination supports testing seller flexibility on individual listings, not assuming discounts across the metro.
What demand and risk checks matter most before buying?
Verify achievable rent against the $1,353 fair-market rent for a two-bedroom unit, compare the target area with the metro’s negative net migration, and review inland-flood exposure. The record publishes a 0.105% annual climate loss ratio, but it does not publish address-level flood losses, insurance premiums, or neighborhood migration.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 6.1%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 2.90%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 8.1%
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 Cincinnati 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 supply2.4 mo.▲ from 2.1 mo. a year ago
Median days on market37 days▼ from 38 days a year ago
Listings with price drops26.4%▲ from 22.6% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.4%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 2.5%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 2.90%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.1%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.2%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 steady56→56
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 59% 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
56| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 54 | 30% | 16.20 |
| Rent trend | 42 | 25% | 10.50 |
| Affordability | 58 | 15% | 8.70 |
| Supply pressure | 58 | 15% | 8.70 |
| Climate risk | 81 | 15% | 12.15 |
| Published score | 56 | ||
Cincinnati, OH scoreRank #193
56Job growth54/100
Job: CES employment growth of 0.22% -> tenant demand receives only a modest labor-market signal, so underwriting should not depend on strong employment expansion.
Rent trend42/100
Rent: Median asking rent of $1,583 grew 2.9% year over year -> existing rent economics are more supportive than the weak job signal, but aggressive future increases are not established.
Affordability58/100
Afford: Rent equals 23.41% of median household income and home values equal 3.86 times income -> tenants retain an affordability cushion, while acquisition prices remain material relative to local earnings.
Supply pressure58/100
Supply: There are 10,518 permits, equal to 4.63 per 1,000 residents, alongside 2.4 months of for-sale supply -> buyers face limited current resale inventory but should account for a meaningful development pipeline.
Climate risk81/100
Climate: The annual climate loss ratio is 0.105%, with inland flood the dominant hazard -> aggregate modeled loss is limited, but water exposure still requires address-level insurance and property 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
$313k
YoY ▲ 2.5%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,583
YoY ▲ 2.90%
Gross Rental Yield
6.1%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,583 × 12 ÷ $313,303
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.2%
CES payrolls
Job signal 54/100
Median Household Income
$81k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
23.4%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.9x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,353
Market rent 117.0% 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$1,583Primary 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 ↗$1,329−$254 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 ↗$1,051−$532 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 ↗$1,353−$230 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 ↗$1,105−$478 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 Cincinnati as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Cincinnati, OH
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 17140. 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$1,2132026-07 · -0.1% year over year
Rental vacancy6.3%2026-07 · +1.0 percentage points year over year
Time on market28 days2026-07 · +2.2 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
- 6.1%
- Vacancy
- 6.3%
- Effective tax
- 1.2%
- Retained yield
- 4.4%
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Cincinnati
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$47,400 median wage
40.1%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$44,200 median wage
43.0%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$32,230 median wage
58.9%
Sales and Related Occupations$37,260 median wage
51.0%
Management Occupations$116,460 median wage
16.3%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$81,890 median wage
23.2%
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
10,128 units authorised in 2026, 53% 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
−959
28,888 in vs 29,847 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 3.3% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$8,808
Arriving $70,475 vs leaving $79,283
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
8.1%
2,224 of 27,382 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.105% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Montgomery County · Franklin County · Greene County · Jefferson County · Fayette County
✓ 28,888 in − 29,847 out = -959 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
- Columbus, OH1,351 arriving
- Cleveland, OH467 arriving
- Louisville, KY461 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Columbus, OH1,512 leaving
- Chicago, IL735 leaving
- Wilmington, OH451 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
- Demand could underperform because net migration is negative: 28,888 households moved in while 29,847 moved out, a net loss of 959 households.
- The income mix of migration is unfavorable: average income among inbound movers is $70,475 versus $79,283 among outbound movers, producing a negative $8,808 gap.
- Rent performance may disappoint if weak CES job growth and additional permitted housing limit tenant demand or pricing power; the record shows 10,518 permits and only 0.22% job growth.
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
County · OHHamilton County$276k home · 6.7% yieldCounty · OHButler County$321k home · 6.0% yieldCounty · OHWarren County$414k home · 5.7% yieldCounty · OHClermont County$334k home · 5.7% yieldCounty · KYKenton County$292k home · 6.2% yieldCounty · KYBoone County$354k home · 5.8% yieldCounty · KYCampbell County$300k home · 6.3% yieldCounty · INDearborn County$335k home · 4.5% yield
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Cincinnati
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati, OH (Target) | 56 | $313k | $1,583 | 6.1% | ▲ 0.2% |
| San Antonio, TX | 34 | $280k | $1,416 | 6.1% | ▲ 0.1% |
| Kansas City, MO | 64 | $332k | $1,545 | 5.6% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Columbus, OH | 57 | $335k | $1,528 | 5.5% | ▲ 0.6% |
| Indianapolis, IN | 45 | $297k | $1,558 | 6.3% | ▼ 0.4% |
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 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 |