Marion, OH

Marion, OH has a usable market record precisely because an important part of it is missing. The evidence supplies current rent and value levels, income ratios, for-sale conditions, measured construction permitting, migration, purchase-mortgage occupancy, and market-scale hazard exposure. It does not establish a directional conclusion for a renter, landlord, or small investor. Zillow does not publish enough history to calculate a trailing-12-month rent change for this market. Marion is therefore intentionally unranked: this report does not assign a score or rank. The central decision question is whether current rent and value levels remain interpretable when the missing rent trend is considered alongside modest job movement, recorded permitting, changing for-sale marketing measures, and mixed migration and income signals.

At June 30, 2026, Zillow's asking-rent index was $1,250 and its home-value index was $186,410. The value index recorded a year-over-year change of 0.0705, while the supplied gross yield was 0.0805. Those figures describe a current price-and-rent relationship, not a rent-growth sequence: the unavailable trailing-12-month rent change prevents a statement about whether asking rents moved with, ahead of, or behind values during that period. Zillow's scope here is asking-rent and home-value indexes, so the $1,250 level is distinct from an achieved lease-rent series and from HUD's Fair Market Rent benchmark. The available Zillow evidence supports a level-based economics screen, while the timing and persistence of rent movement remain unmeasured.

Census ACS reports median household income of $59,371, with supplied rent-to-income of 0.2527 and price-to-income of 3.14. HUD's FY2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,064. Zillow's $1,250 asking rent is 1.175 times that HUD level, a supplied relationship. This comparison establishes an affordability boundary rather than a conclusion about any household's payment. Census ACS measures household income, HUD supplies an administrative rent benchmark, and Zillow records an asking-rent index; their concepts, covered populations, and timing are not interchangeable. The price-to-income figure likewise cannot stand in for a mortgage payment or total ownership cost. The relevant tension is the gap between Zillow's current asking-rent level and HUD's benchmark while income is measured separately by Census ACS.

Labor and supply evidence complicate a simple scarcity reading. BLS LAUS shows a year-over-year job change of 0.001 over the 12 months to May 2026. The Census Building Permits Survey records 62 permitted units in 2026 year to date through M06, a permits-per-1k value of 0.95, and 0 in the supplied five-plus-unit category. That is a permitting snapshot, not a count of completed homes or rental vacancies. Redfin, dated May 1, reports 1.9 months of for-sale supply versus 1.8 previously, 49 median days on market versus 37 previously, a 0.9786 sale-to-list measure, and a 0.3758 price-drops measure versus 0.26 previously. The Census Building Permits Survey and Redfin describe different parts of the market. Together they show recorded permitting alongside longer for-sale marketing time and a higher price-drops measure; neither source supplies direct rental-vacancy or lease-concession evidence.

IRS county-to-county tax-return migration, aggregated to the market, reports 1,288 movers in and 1,240 out, for net migration of 48. Incoming AGI is $45,790 and outgoing AGI is $46,461, producing the supplied AGI gap of -$671. Migration is positive by mover count, while the income comparison points in the other direction; neither measure identifies tenure, move motive, or the current household-income distribution. HMDA adds a separate lens: in 2024 it records 686 total purchase mortgages, 29 investor purchases, and an investor share of 0.0423. HMDA is purchase-mortgage occupancy evidence, whereas IRS is a migration-flow measure and Census ACS is an income measure. The HMDA share describes participation in measured purchase lending, not a market-wide ownership-stock share or proof of investor influence on rents.

FEMA's National Risk Index supplies the market-scale risk evidence: a climate loss ratio of 0.001038, an NRI risk score of 61.1, and inland flood as the top hazard within the water hazard type. These figures are expected annual loss evidence, not a property-exposure finding, a record of realized damage, or an insurance-premium estimate. Cost-level evidence in the packet is narrower. Zillow provides home-value and asking-rent levels, while HUD provides the Fair Market Rent benchmark. The record does not provide insurance, tax, utility, maintenance, or repair cost levels. Consequently, FEMA's measure cannot be converted from this evidence into an operating-cost assumption, even though it belongs in the same decision frame as rent and ownership economics.

The usable synthesis is a set of unresolved intersections rather than a market call. Zillow presents a $1,250 asking-rent level, a $186,410 value level, and a 0.0705 value change, yet lacks the rent history needed to compare their momentum. Census ACS and HUD show a 0.2527 rent-to-income measure and a $1,064 two-bedroom benchmark, but do not establish lease-level burden. BLS, the Census Building Permits Survey, and Redfin place restrained job change, recorded permits, and shifting for-sale marketing measures in view without measuring rental vacancy. IRS and HMDA show positive net migration by count, a negative AGI gap, and measured investor-purchase participation, while FEMA marks market-scale inland-flood risk without operating-cost data. The unresolved evidence categories are a complete Zillow rent history, rent distribution and concessions, current vacancy and turnover, permit completions and intended tenure, the scope behind Redfin's changes, migration composition, and localized FEMA exposure and insurance-cost evidence. Until those questions are answered, the supplied record supports investigation rather than a directional conclusion.