All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Denver, CO
Denver merits selective investigation by buyers who can tolerate weak near-term leasing signals and negotiate on entry price; income-first investors dependent on immediate rent growth should avoid it.
Median price$573k
Median rent$1,930
Gross yield4.0%
Job growth▼ 0.1%
Composite Market ScoreRank #460 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Denver, CO?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,930 per month for 2026-06-30. That is down 1.46% 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 Denver
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver County, COFIPS 08031 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Arapahoe County, COFIPS 08005 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Jefferson County, COFIPS 08059 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Adams County, COFIPS 08001 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Douglas County, COFIPS 08035 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Broomfield County, COFIPS 08014 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Elbert County, COFIPS 08039 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Park County, COFIPS 08093 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Clear Creek County, COFIPS 08019 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
| Gilpin County, COFIPS 08047 | $1,643 | $1,754 | $2,089 | $2,734 | $3,049 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Denver merits selective investigation by buyers who can tolerate weak near-term leasing signals and negotiate on entry price; income-first investors dependent on immediate rent growth should avoid it. The median home value is $572,682, median asking rent is $1,930, and gross yield is 4.04%.
Opportunity lies in buyer leverage and household capacity: home values fell 2.67%, 41.78% of listings had price drops, and median rent absorbs 21.89% of median household income. However, asking rents fell 1.46% and CES employment slipped 0.11%, so affordability for tenants does not currently translate into stronger rent momentum.
Supply is mixed rather than clearly favorable. Inventory stood at 2.9 months, while permits totaled 17,012, pairing limited current resale inventory with a sizable housing pipeline. Net migration was positive, but movers’ average income inflow trailed outflow, and inland flood is the dominant published hazard. Underwrite property-level insurance and flood exposure rather than treating the metro-wide climate signal as uniform.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Does current pricing show negotiating signals?
The median value fell 2.67% year over year, 41.78% of listings had price drops, median days on market was 21, and inventory was 2.9 months.
Is household migration positive, and are incoming movers higher-income?
Tax filings show 80,171 households moved in and 73,337 moved out, for net migration of 6,834. Average income was $82,757 for movers in versus $93,217 for movers out, a -$10,460 gap.
What rental-income benchmarks are available?
Median asking rent is $1,930 per month, the two-bedroom fair-market rent is $2,089, gross yield is 4.04%, and rent-to-income is 21.89%.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 4.0%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▼ 1.46%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 6.2%
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 Denver as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
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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 supply2.9 mo.▼ from 3.3 mo. a year ago
Median days on market21 days▲ from 19 days a year ago
Listings with price drops41.8%▼ from 42.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.3%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 2.7%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▼ 1.46%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield4.0%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▼ 0.1%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 steady36→36
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 33% and rents 22%. 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
36| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 40 | 30% | 12.00 |
| Rent trend | 3 | 25% | 0.75 |
| Affordability | 70 | 15% | 10.50 |
| Supply pressure | 40 | 15% | 6.00 |
| Climate risk | 45 | 15% | 6.75 |
| Published score | 36 | ||
Denver, CO scoreRank #460
36Job growth40/100
Job: CES employment fell 0.11% year over year -> job-based rental-demand support is weak.
Rent trend3/100
Rent: asking rent fell 1.46% year over year and gross yield is 4.04% -> current income momentum is negative, making entry price important to returns.
Affordability70/100
Affordability: rent equals 21.89% of median income while price equals 5.41 times income -> tenant burden is lighter than the ownership hurdle.
Supply pressure40/100
Supply: 2.9 months of inventory sits alongside 17,012 permits -> buyers must assess pipeline competition separately from resale availability.
Climate risk45/100
Climate: inland flood is the dominant hazard and the loss ratio is 0.1501% -> flood exposure and insurance terms require property-level 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
$573k
YoY ▼ 2.7%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,930
YoY ▼ 1.46%
Gross Rental Yield
4.0%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,930 × 12 ÷ $572,682
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 0.1%
CES payrolls
Job signal 40/100
Median Household Income
$106k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
21.9%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.4x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$2,089
Market rent 92.4% 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$1,930Primary 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 ↗$1,753−$177 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 ↗$1,754−$176 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 ↗$2,089+$159 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 ↗$1,874−$56 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 Denver as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Denver, CO
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 19740. 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$1,6482026-07 · -4.0% year over year
Rental vacancy8.3%2026-07 · -0.3 percentage points year over year
Time on market33 days2026-07 · +2.4 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
- 4.0%
- Vacancy
- 8.3%
- Effective tax
- 0.5%
- Retained yield
- 3.2%
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Denver
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
Business and Financial Operations Occupations$96,450 median wage
24.0%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$53,050 median wage
43.7%
Sales and Related Occupations$49,730 median wage
46.6%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$38,710 median wage
59.8%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$47,720 median wage
48.5%
Management Occupations$160,810 median wage
14.4%
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
16,736 units authorised in 2026, 54% 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
+6,834
80,171 in vs 73,337 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 8.5% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$10,460
Arriving $82,757 vs leaving $93,217
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
6.2%
2,497 of 40,219 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.150% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Boulder County · El Paso County · Weld County · Larimer County · Maricopa County
✓ 80,171 in − 73,337 out = 6,834 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
- Boulder, CO4,657 arriving
- Colorado Springs, CO3,447 arriving
- Greeley, CO2,527 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Greeley, CO4,223 leaving
- Boulder, CO3,811 leaving
- Colorado Springs, CO3,457 leaving
Directional moving briefs
Relocation routes involving Denver
Each route begins with a direct IRS tax-return household flow and then tests what changes in housing, income, jobs, regional prices and climate evidence.
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
- The observed 1.46% rent decline and 0.11% CES employment decline do not support a growth-led underwriting case.
- Future leasing competition from the 17,012-permit pipeline cannot be ruled out because unit type and tenure are not published.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, while property-level exposure 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.
County records
County · CODenver County$546k home · 4.2% yieldCounty · COArapahoe County$516k home · 4.2% yieldCounty · COJefferson County$629k home · 3.8% yieldCounty · COAdams County$486k home · 4.6% yieldCounty · CODouglas County$712k home · 3.9% yieldCounty · COBroomfield County$629k home · 3.9% yieldCounty · COElbert County$686k home · n/a yieldCounty · COPark County$527k home · 6.0% yield
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Denver
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver, CO (Target) | 36 | $573k | $1,930 | 4.0% | ▼ 0.1% |
| Sacramento, CA | 49 | $584k | $2,308 | 4.7% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Seattle, WA | 31 | $745k | $2,269 | 3.6% | ▼ 0.1% |
| Minneapolis, MN | 62 | $396k | $1,727 | 5.2% | ▲ 0.2% |
| Riverside, CA | 35 | $586k | $2,539 | 5.2% | ▲ 0.5% |
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 |