All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Columbus, GA
Columbus merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak demand signals; buyers dependent on rapid rent growth or near-term appreciation should avoid it.
Median price$212k
Median rent$1,295
Gross yield7.3%
Job growth▼ 0.2%
Composite Market ScoreRank #313 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Columbus, GA?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,295 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 2.35% 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 Columbus
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muscogee County, GAFIPS 13215 | $895 | $939 | $1,088 | $1,445 | $1,703 |
| Russell County, ALFIPS 01113 | $895 | $939 | $1,088 | $1,445 | $1,703 |
| Harris County, GAFIPS 13145 | $895 | $939 | $1,088 | $1,445 | $1,703 |
| Chattahoochee County, GAFIPS 13053 | $895 | $939 | $1,088 | $1,445 | $1,703 |
| Marion County, GAFIPS 13197 | $895 | $939 | $1,088 | $1,445 | $1,703 |
| Talbot County, GAFIPS 13263 | $803 | $843 | $973 | $1,353 | $1,521 |
| Stewart County, GAFIPS 13259 | $803 | $843 | $973 | $1,293 | $1,351 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Columbus merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak demand signals; buyers dependent on rapid rent growth or near-term appreciation should avoid it. A $212,248 median value and $1,295 median asking rent produce a 7.32% gross yield, but that is before expenses, vacancies, financing, and repairs.
The opportunity is a relatively accessible purchase profile: price-to-income is 3.58, while rent consumes 26.18% of median household income. Limited construction may reduce direct competition from new units, with 706 permits and 2.17 permits per thousand residents. These figures support screening individual properties, not assuming broad market strength.
The risk is soft demand. Employment fell 0.18%, rent rose only 2.35%, and tax-filing migration was negative by 202 households. Buyers should require property-level evidence of occupancy and achievable rent. Inland flooding is the dominant hazard, so insurance terms and parcel exposure remain essential despite the comparatively favorable climate component.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Does the market show enough current income relative to acquisition price to justify deeper underwriting?
The record reports a $212,248 median home value, $1,295 median monthly asking rent, and 7.32% gross yield. That clears a basic income-screening question, but no vacancy, tax, insurance, maintenance, management, financing, or net-yield data is published.
Are population and income flows strengthening the renter base?
Tax filings show 8,530 households moved in and 8,732 moved out, for net migration of negative 202. Average income was $52,278 for incoming movers and $57,787 for outgoing movers, an income gap of negative $5,509. The record therefore does not show strengthening through migration.
Where are incoming households coming from, and does that identify a dependable tenant segment?
Lee County supplied 932 incoming households, followed by El Paso County with 248, Fulton County with 186, Troup County with 145, and Bell County with 130. The record identifies origins only; mover tenure, employment, household size, destination neighborhood, and rental preferences are not published.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 7.3%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 2.35%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 14.4%
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 Columbus 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 supplyn/aRedfin unavailable
Median days on marketn/aRedfin unavailable
Listings with price dropsn/aRedfin unavailable
Sale-to-list ration/aRedfin unavailable
Home value growth▲ 3.3%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 2.35%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield7.3%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 steady47→47
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 58% and rents 54%. 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
47| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 37 | 30% | 11.10 |
| Rent trend | 34 | 25% | 8.50 |
| Affordability | 39 | 15% | 5.85 |
| Supply pressure | 59 | 15% | 8.85 |
| Climate risk | 82 | 15% | 12.30 |
| Published score | 47 | ||
Columbus, GA scoreRank #313
47Job growth37/100
Job: employment declined 0.18% -> underwrite conservatively because the record does not show an expanding employment base to support additional rental demand.
Rent trend34/100
Rent: median asking rent increased 2.35% to $1,295 -> current income supports the reported gross yield, but recent rent growth offers little room to rescue a weak acquisition.
Affordability39/100
Afford: rent equals 26.18% of median household income and price-to-income is 3.58 -> both renter payment capacity and acquisition pricing warrant investigation, though neither establishes neighborhood-level affordability.
Supply pressure59/100
Supply: 706 permits equal 2.17 per thousand residents -> the construction pipeline appears restrained, which may limit new-unit competition but does not offset weak employment and migration signals.
Climate risk82/100
Climate: expected annual loss equals 0.1033% of building value, with inland flooding the dominant hazard -> parcel screening, flood coverage, deductibles, and exclusions could materially affect otherwise attractive gross economics.
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
$212k
YoY ▲ 3.3%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,295
YoY ▲ 2.35%
Gross Rental Yield
7.3%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,295 × 12 ÷ $212,248
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 0.2%
CES payrolls
Job signal 37/100
Median Household Income
$59k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
26.2%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.6x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,088
Market rent 119.0% 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 benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,295Primary 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 ↗$939−$356 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 ↗$1,088−$207 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 ↗$1,069−$226 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 Columbus as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Columbus, GA
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 17980. 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$1,2812026-07 · +2.6% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Columbus
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$38,630 median wage
40.2%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$27,080 median wage
57.4%
Sales and Related Occupations$30,470 median wage
51.0%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$37,030 median wage
42.0%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$75,270 median wage
20.6%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations$74,200 median wage
20.9%
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
698 units authorised in 2026, 9% 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
−202
8,530 in vs 8,732 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 2.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$5,509
Arriving $52,278 vs leaving $57,787
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
14.4%
468 of 3,253 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.103% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Lee County · El Paso County · Fulton County · Troup County · Bell County
✓ 8,530 in − 8,732 out = -202 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
- Auburn, AL889 arriving
- Atlanta, GA796 arriving
- LaGrange, GA168 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Auburn, AL981 leaving
- Atlanta, GA809 leaving
- LaGrange, GA160 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
- Employment contraction could weaken tenant demand or make occupancy and collections less dependable, particularly for properties relying on continued household formation.
- Out-migration exceeded in-migration, and incoming movers had average income of $52,278 versus $57,787 for outgoing movers; that combination may reduce the depth and spending capacity of the replacement tenant pool.
- The headline gross yield excludes operating costs, while inland flooding introduces property-specific insurance and loss exposure that could materially reduce net returns.
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 · GAMuscogee County$190k home · 8.1% yieldCounty · ALRussell County$202k home · 8.1% yieldCounty · GAHarris County$379k home · n/a yieldCounty · GAChattahoochee County$146k home · n/a yieldCounty · GAMarion County$185k home · n/a yieldCounty · GATalbot County$190k home · n/a yieldCounty · GAStewart County$81k home · n/a yield
Cities in this market
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Columbus
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus, GA (Target) | 47 | $212k | $1,295 | 7.3% | ▼ 0.2% |
| Hattiesburg, MS | 49 | $221k | $1,388 | 7.5% | ▼ 0.4% |
| Montgomery, AL | 42 | $216k | $1,429 | 8.0% | ▼ 0.3% |
| Tuscaloosa, AL | 46 | $222k | $1,480 | 8.0% | ▼ 0.4% |
| Florence, SC | 30 | $197k | $1,280 | 7.8% | ▼ 0.1% |
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 |