All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / California / Fresno
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Fresno, CA
Fresno merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate affordability and water-hazard risk; conservative buyers should avoid it.
Median price$411k
Median rent$2,043
Gross yield6.0%
Job growth▲ 0.9%
Composite Market ScoreRank #242 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Fresno, CA?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $2,043 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 3.62% 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 Fresno
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno County, CAFIPS 06019 | $1,347 | $1,355 | $1,664 | $2,314 | $2,660 |
| Madera County, CAFIPS 06039 | $1,055 | $1,062 | $1,376 | $1,914 | $2,275 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Fresno merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate affordability and water-hazard risk; conservative buyers should avoid it. Median asking rent is $2,043 against a $411,441 home value, supporting a 5.96% gross yield.
Rent growth of 3.62% outpaced price growth of 0.91%, while jobs grew 0.92%. That combination supports current rental economics, but rent already consumes 32.92% of median household income, limiting affordability.
Buyer leverage is visible but not decisive: inventory stands at 3.2 months and 25.54% of listings show price drops. The main risks are net migration of -1,825 households, new supply, and inland-flood exposure.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What gross income does the current asking rent imply relative to price?
The published gross yield is 5.96%, based on a $2,043 median monthly asking rent and a $411,441 median home value.
Is the resale market showing room to negotiate?
Median days on market is 44, months of supply is 3.2, and 25.54% of listings have price drops.
Where are incoming households coming from?
The leading published origins are Tulare County with 1,295 households, Los Angeles County with 911, Santa Clara County with 574, Merced County with 572, and Kings County with 522.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 6.0%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 3.62%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 10.9%
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 Fresno 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 supply3.2 mo.▲ from 3.1 mo. a year ago
Median days on market44 days▲ from 22 days a year ago
Listings with price drops25.5%▼ from 27.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.1%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 0.9%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 3.62%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.0%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.9%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 steady52→52
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 50% and rents 55%. 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
52| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 81 | 30% | 24.30 |
| Rent trend | 56 | 25% | 14.00 |
| Affordability | 9 | 15% | 1.35 |
| Supply pressure | 57 | 15% | 8.55 |
| Climate risk | 25 | 15% | 3.75 |
| Published score | 52 | ||
Fresno, CA scoreRank #242
52Job growth81/100
Job: 0.92% year-over-year growth -> employment is expanding, but only modestly.
Rent trend56/100
Rent: 3.62% rent growth and a 5.96% gross yield -> current rental economics warrant investigation.
Affordability9/100
Afford: rent equals 32.92% of median household income and price-to-income is 5.53 -> tenant and buyer affordability are constrained.
Supply pressure57/100
Supply: 3,318 permits and 3.2 months of inventory -> buyers face active construction alongside some resale choice.
Climate risk25/100
Climate: a 0.1921% annual building-value loss ratio, led by inland flood -> water risk requires property-level diligence.
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
$411k
YoY ▲ 0.9%
ZORI Median Rent
$2,043
YoY ▲ 3.62%
Gross Rental Yield
6.0%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$2,043 × 12 ÷ $411,441
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.9%
CES payrolls
Job signal 81/100
Median Household Income
$74k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
32.9%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.5x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,520
Market rent 134.4% 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 benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$2,043Primary 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 ↗$1,209−$835 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 ↗$1,520−$523 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 ↗$1,392−$651 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 Fresno as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Fresno, CA
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 23420. 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$1,4112026-07 · +2.2% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Fresno
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$49,100 median wage
49.9%
Healthcare Support Occupations$34,320 median wage
71.4%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$42,600 median wage
57.5%
Educational Instruction and Library Occupations$59,980 median wage
40.9%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$38,110 median wage
64.3%
Sales and Related Occupations$38,740 median wage
63.3%
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
3,076 units authorised in 2026, 22% 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
−1,825
12,276 in vs 14,101 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 14.9% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$1,386
Arriving $58,615 vs leaving $60,001
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
10.9%
1,054 of 9,705 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.192% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Tulare County · Los Angeles County · Santa Clara County · Merced County · Kings County
✓ 12,276 in − 14,101 out = -1,825 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
- Visalia, CA1,295 arriving
- Los Angeles, CA1,192 arriving
- San Francisco, CA710 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Visalia, CA1,176 leaving
- Los Angeles, CA1,090 leaving
- Sacramento, CA672 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
- Net migration was -1,825 households, with more households moving out than in.
- Rent already absorbs 32.92% of median household income, which may constrain tenants' capacity to pay.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1921% of building value.
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
Cities in this market
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Fresno
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno, CA (Target) | 52 | $411k | $2,043 | 6.0% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Knoxville, TN | 42 | $370k | $1,756 | 5.7% | ▲ 0.9% |
| North Port, FL | 32 | $404k | $2,132 | 6.3% | ▲ 1.2% |
| Bakersfield, CA | 46 | $366k | $1,776 | 5.8% | ▲ 1.6% |
| Greenville, SC | 51 | $317k | $1,570 | 5.9% | ▲ 1.4% |
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 |