Fayetteville, AR cityscape
Markets / Arkansas / Fayetteville
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Fayetteville, AR

Fayetteville merits investigation for investors who prioritize employment and household-flow signals, but buyers whose minimum gross yield exceeds 5.18% or who want limited supply competition should avoid it.

Median price$370k
Median rent$1,599
Gross yield5.2%
Job growth▲ 2.5%
Metro Area · CBSA 2222040 public sourcesChecked nightly
SCORE / 10055RANK #203 / 571
Composite Market ScoreRank #203 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer

How much is rent in Fayetteville, AR?

Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,599 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 1.55% from a year earlier.

Zillow ZORI$1,5992026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

Census ACS gross rent$1,157ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

HUD 2BR FMR$1,347FY2026 FMR

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 Fayetteville

Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.

FY2026 FMR · FY2026 · monthly gross-rent standards
CountyStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR
Benton County, ARFIPS 05007$1,007$1,115$1,347$1,873$2,213
Washington County, ARFIPS 05143$1,007$1,115$1,347$1,873$2,213
Madison County, ARFIPS 05087$1,007$1,115$1,347$1,873$2,213
The read

Why this market scores where it does

Fayetteville merits investigation for investors who prioritize employment and household-flow signals, but buyers whose minimum gross yield exceeds 5.18% or who want limited supply competition should avoid it. At a $370,138 median home value, that yield leaves operating expenses and financing outside the headline return.

Opportunity rests on 2.55% job growth and positive net migration of 3,599 households. The restraint is rent performance: asking rent rose 1.55%, while 29.76% of listings had price drops. For a buyer, that mix provides tenant-demand evidence without showing equally strong revenue momentum or seller pricing power.

Supply is the main underwriting pressure: 9,486 permits, or 16.42 per thousand residents, sit alongside 3.4 months of for-sale supply. Verify asset-level rent and flood exposure before bidding; do not assume strong jobs and migration will offset pipeline risk, moderate yield, or water-related loss exposure.

Frequently Asked Investor Questions

What evidence supports rental demand?
CES employment grew 2.55% year over year, and tax-filing migration was positive by 3,599 households, calculated as 14,581 moved in minus 10,982 moved out.
How affordable is the reported rent relative to local income?
Median asking rent is $1,599, equal to 23.5% of the $81,650 median household income.
What do the for-sale indicators show?
The metro has 3.4 months of supply, a median market time of 35 days, and price drops on 29.76% of listings.

Investor Quick Takeaways

Gross Yield: 5.2%

Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.

Rent Momentum: ▲ 1.55%

Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.

Investor Activity: 14.0%

Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).

Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI

Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.

Run Cash-Flow Test for Fayetteville
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 supply3.4 mo.▲ from 2.8 mo. a year ago
Median days on market35 days▲ from 28 days a year ago
Listings with price drops29.8%▲ from 23.2% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio98.4%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 3.1%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 1.55%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.2%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 2.5%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 steady5555
0 pts

The 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.

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.

Jobs99Rent trend24Affordability57Supply18Climate safety56
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
55
SignalScoreWeightPoints
Job growth9930%29.70
Rent trend2425%6.00
Affordability5715%8.55
Supply pressure1815%2.70
Climate risk5615%8.40
Published score55
Fayetteville, AR scoreRank #203
55
Job growth99/100

Job: CES employment grew 2.55% year over year -> employment is the clearest demand signal in the record.

Rent trend24/100

Rent: Median asking rent rose 1.55% to $1,599 -> rental revenue is growing, but slowly.

Affordability57/100

Affordability: Rent equals 23.5% of median income, while price is 4.53 times income -> tenant affordability should not be treated as evidence that homes are inexpensive to buy.

Supply pressure18/100

Supply: Permitting reached 9,486, or 16.42 per thousand residents -> buyers should underwrite potential competition from new supply.

Climate risk56/100

Climate: Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a 0.001397 climate loss ratio -> insurance terms and property-level flood exposure require verification.

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
$370k
YoY ▲ 3.1%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,599
YoY ▲ 1.55%
Gross Rental Yield
5.2%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,599 × 12 ÷ $370,138
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 2.5%
CES payrolls
Job signal 99/100
Median Household Income
$82k
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
$1,347
Market rent 118.7% 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
Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$438$875$1,313$1,750Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,599HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,115HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,347Census ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,157Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$875$1,750Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,599HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,115HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,347ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,157
The chart compares published levels without averaging them. A longer bar does not mean a source is more accurate; it means that source measures a higher rent under its own definition.
Typical observed market rentZillow ZORI
$1,599Primary 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 ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 1BR FMR
$1,115−$484 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 ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 2BR FMR
$1,347−$252 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 ↗
Median gross rentCensus ACS gross rent
$1,157−$442 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 Fayetteville as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.

Direct local rental evidence

Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Fayetteville, AR

These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 22220. 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.

$1,183$978$7732017-012026-07
Recent-lease rent$1,1442026-07 · -2.8% year over year
Rental vacancy7.1%2026-07 · +2.4 percentage points year over year
Time on marketn/an/a
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.

Gross-to-retained yield bridgeApartment List 2026-07
Gross yield bridged to measured rent-retention yieldGross yield of 5.2%, less property-tax drag of 0.5% and vacancy drag of 0.4%, leaves measured rent retention of 4.3%.4.3%5.2%RETAINEDGROSS
measured retention property tax vacancy
Gross yield
5.2%
Vacancy
7.1%
Effective tax
0.5%
Retained yield
4.3%
Regional price level

What feels expensive inside Fayetteville

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
Regional price parity categories for Fayetteville, ARHorizontal bars compare all-items, housing, goods, utilities and other-services price levels with the United States benchmark of 100.708090100110All items91.4Housing76.9Goods93.6Utilities75.1Other services95.3
Orange extends above the national level; emerald extends below it. The chart does not convert rent or income into purchasing power.
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
Annualized asking rent compared with major occupational median wages in Fayetteville, ARHorizontal bars show annualized Zillow asking rent as a share of the BLS annual median wage for six major occupational groups with the largest published employment.0%10%20%30%40%50%60%Office and AdministrativeSupport Occupations$43,840 median wage43.8%Transportation and MaterialMoving Occupations$41,320 median wage46.4%Food Preparation and ServingRelated Occupations$28,550 median wage67.2%Sales and Related Occupations$35,360 median wage54.3%Management Occupations$103,480 median wage18.5%Production Occupations$39,750 median wage48.3%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$43,840 median wage
43.8%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$41,320 median wage
46.4%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$28,550 median wage
67.2%
Sales and Related Occupations$35,360 median wage
54.3%
Management Occupations$103,480 median wage
18.5%
Production Occupations$39,750 median wage
48.3%
BLS OEWS 2025-05; Zillow rent 2026-06-30. The 30% line is a visible screen, not a RentMarker score or a claim about household costs.
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
Download CSV ↓
6,68920195,89620206,83320216,89820226,40420237,49420248,58820259,35820265+ unit buildingssingle family
9,358 units authorised in 2026, 38% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Source: Census Building Permits Survey
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
+3,654
14,272 in vs 10,618 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 25.6% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$4,325
Arriving $75,272 vs leaving $70,947
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
14.0%
1,390 of 9,909 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.132% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →
Households arrive mainly from: Pulaski County · Sebastian County · Los Angeles County · Dallas County · Carroll County
14,272 in − 10,618 out = 3,654 net
Direct 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.

Explore every route
Leading inbound markets
  1. Little Rock, AR947 arriving
  2. Dallas, TX716 arriving
  3. Fort Smith, AR556 arriving
Leading outbound markets
  1. Dallas, TX695 leaving
  2. Little Rock, AR491 leaving
  3. Fort Smith, AR423 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

  1. The 5.18% gross yield excludes operating expenses and financing, leaving less than the headline yield available for cash flow.
  2. Permitting totals 9,486, or 16.42 per thousand residents, creating potential competition from new supply.
  3. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, adding property-loss and insurance risk.
Statistical peers

Market areas that behave like Fayetteville

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 areaScorePriceRentYieldJob Growth
Fayetteville, AR (Target)55$370k$1,5995.2%▲ 2.5%
Daphne, AL53$376k$1,7025.4%▲ 2.3%
Wilmington, NC48$449k$1,7274.6%▲ 2.6%
Yuba City, CA55$434k$2,0115.6%▲ 2.1%
Traverse City, MI71$427k$1,9605.5%▲ 2.5%
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 SourceMethodRelease PeriodPulled Date
Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rentdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — historical household incomedirectACS 2019 and 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — populationdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-26
Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent indexdirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquiditydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
BEA County Personal Income — income and populationdirect2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-20242026-08-03
BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levelsdirect2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-20242026-08-03
BLS CES — payroll employmentdirectCES SM current2026-07-26
BLS LAUS — resident employmentdirectLAUS current2026-07-26
BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wagesdirectMay 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15)2026-08-03
BLS QCEW — county employment and wagesdirectannual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 20242026-08-02
OMB/BLS delineation — metro geographydirectOMB July 2023 delineation2026-07-30
Census Building Permits Survey — permitted unitsdirectBPS through 20262026-07-26
Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-29
Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stockdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and incomedirectACS 2024 5-year ZCTA2026-08-08
FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratiosmodelledNRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS)2026-07-26
FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciationdirectannual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 20252026-08-02
HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy typedirectHMDA 2024 purchase originations2026-07-26
HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income banddirectHUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23)2026-08-03
HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standarddirectFY2026 FMR2026-07-26
HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallbackdirectZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY20262026-07-26
HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalkdirectHUD-USPS 2026Q12026-08-09
IRS SOI — county migration and mover incomedirectSOI migration 2022-20232026-07-26
Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage ratesdirectweek of 2026-07-302026-08-06
Census ACS 5-year — effective property taxdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-06
Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventorydirectcounty inventory 2026-062026-07-28
Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rentsdirecttop-50 rental asking rents 2026-052026-08-05
Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cutsdirectmetro tracker through 2026-05-012026-07-26
Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supplydirectZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-032026-08-12
USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum CodesdirectUSDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes2026-08-02
Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rentsdirectcounty ZHVI/ZORI 2026-062026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — metro home valuesdirectMetro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — city home valuesdirectzillow_zhvi_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI — metro market rentsdirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZORI — city market rentsdirectzillow_zori_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusteddirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv2026-08-15
Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rentsdirectZORI ZIP 2026-062026-08-08