All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Columbia, MO
Columbia merits investigation by buyers prioritizing job strength and tight resale inventory, but yield-focused or flood-averse investors should be selective.
Median price$327k
Median rent$1,415
Gross yield5.2%
Job growth▲ 1.2%
Composite Market ScoreRank #47 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Columbia, MO?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,415 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 4.32% 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 Columbia
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boone County, MOFIPS 29019 | $800 | $1,011 | $1,160 | $1,573 | $1,861 |
| Cooper County, MOFIPS 29053 | $668 | $730 | $958 | $1,182 | $1,497 |
| Howard County, MOFIPS 29089 | $720 | $796 | $1,044 | $1,252 | $1,382 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Columbia merits investigation by buyers prioritizing job strength and tight resale inventory, but yield-focused or flood-averse investors should be selective. Jobs grew 1.16%, while homes sold in a median 16 days with 1.8 months of supply.
The opportunity is improving rent performance: asking rent rose 4.32%, ahead of 2.71% home-value growth, and gross yield was 5.19%. Rent equaled 23.47% of median household income, suggesting some tenant payment capacity, although achievable property-level returns are not published.
Risks are balanced migration, active construction, and water exposure. Net migration was only 23 households, while permitting reached 5.38 units per thousand residents. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; insurance costs and property-specific exposure are not published.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Are rents rising faster than home values?
Yes. Asking rent rose 4.32% year over year, versus 2.71% for median home value.
Does migration show meaningful household growth?
No. Tax filings show 5,820 households moved in and 5,797 moved out, leaving net migration of 23.
How active are investors in financed purchases?
Non-occupants represented 15.04% of purchase mortgages.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 5.2%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 4.32%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 15.0%
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 Columbia 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 supply1.8 mo.▼ from 2.7 mo. a year ago
Median days on market16 days▼ from 52 days a year ago
Listings with price drops33.3%▲ from 22.3% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio98.7%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 2.7%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 4.32%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.2%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 1.2%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 steady69→69
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 60% and rents 63%. Rents running ahead of prices is what lifts 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
69| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 86 | 30% | 25.80 |
| Rent trend | 64 | 25% | 16.00 |
| Affordability | 57 | 15% | 8.55 |
| Supply pressure | 64 | 15% | 9.60 |
| Climate risk | 60 | 15% | 9.00 |
| Published score | 69 | ||
Columbia, MO scoreRank #47
69Job growth86/100
Job: 1.16% annual growth -> expanding employment supports investigation, though sector composition is not published.
Rent trend64/100
Rent: 4.32% annual asking-rent growth and 5.19% gross yield -> rent momentum is positive, but the headline yield excludes property-level costs.
Affordability57/100
Afford: rent at 23.47% of median household income -> the typical asking rent appears manageable relative to local income.
Supply pressure64/100
Supply: 1.8 months of resale inventory alongside 5.38 permits per thousand residents -> current listings are tight, but new construction could add competition.
Climate risk60/100
Climate: inland flood is the dominant hazard -> buyers need property-level flood and insurance diligence because those costs are not published.
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
$327k
YoY ▲ 2.7%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,415
YoY ▲ 4.32%
Gross Rental Yield
5.2%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,415 × 12 ÷ $326,978
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 1.2%
CES payrolls
Job signal 86/100
Median Household Income
$72k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
23.5%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
4.5x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,044
Market rent 135.5% 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$1,415Primary 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 ↗$796−$619 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 ↗$1,044−$371 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 ↗$1,070−$345 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 Columbia as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Columbia
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$44,730 median wage
38.0%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$29,680 median wage
57.2%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$77,400 median wage
21.9%
Educational Instruction and Library Occupations$59,150 median wage
28.7%
Sales and Related Occupations$34,050 median wage
49.9%
Management Occupations$97,490 median wage
17.4%
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
1,156 units authorised in 2026, 43% 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
+23
5,820 in vs 5,797 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 0.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$4,555
Arriving $55,899 vs leaving $60,454
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
15.0%
375 of 2,494 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.128% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: St. Louis County · Cole County · Callaway County · Randolph County · Jackson County
✓ 5,820 in − 5,797 out = 23 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
- St. Louis, MO617 arriving
- Jefferson City, MO502 arriving
- Kansas City, MO316 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- St. Louis, MO633 leaving
- Jefferson City, MO552 leaving
- Kansas City, MO476 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
- Migration demand may be weak because household inflows and outflows produced little net gain.
- New permitting may add rental or resale competition despite currently tight inventory.
- Inland-flood exposure may raise ownership costs or impair individual properties; property-level risk and insurance costs are not published.
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.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Columbia
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia, MO (Target) | 69 | $327k | $1,415 | 5.2% | ▲ 1.2% |
| Elkhart, IN | 86 | $269k | $1,146 | 5.1% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Chambersburg, PA | 75 | $295k | $1,328 | 5.4% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Lebanon, PA | 72 | $324k | $1,362 | 5.1% | ▲ 1.4% |
| Lincoln, NE | 60 | $307k | $1,342 | 5.3% | ▲ 0.6% |
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 |