All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Port St. Lucie, FL
Port St.
Median price$384k
Median rent$2,347
Gross yield7.3%
Job growth▼ 0.1%
Composite Market ScoreRank #552 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Port St. Lucie, FL?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $2,347 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 2.31% 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 Port St. Lucie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Lucie County, FLFIPS 12111 | $1,455 | $1,467 | $1,757 | $2,421 | $2,579 |
| Martin County, FLFIPS 12085 | $1,455 | $1,467 | $1,757 | $2,421 | $2,579 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Port St. Lucie merits investigation by yield-focused buyers prepared to examine hurricane exposure and supply competition; buyers needing strong affordability, tight inventory, or clear job growth should avoid it. The median home value is $383,710, while asking rent is $2,347 and gross yield is 7.34%.
Opportunity comes from asking rents rising 2.31% even as home values fell 2.48%, plus net migration of 5,547 households. The mix pairs a positive demand signal with softer pricing, but employment was essentially flat, down 0.07%, so migration and rent signals are not reinforced by job expansion.
Risk is concentrated in affordability and competition: rent absorbs 37.8% of median income, inventory stands at 5.8 months, and the permit rate is 8.86 on the supplied per-capita measure. Hurricane wind is the dominant hazard, so underwriting needs property-level insurance and loss-cost evidence not published here.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Is household migration positive?
Yes. Tax filings show 19,797 households moved in and 14,250 moved out, producing net migration of 5,547.
What market-slack indicators are reported?
Months supply is 5.8, median days on market is 82, and the price-drop share is 25.29%.
How much investor participation is recorded?
Non-occupants represented 7.32% of purchase mortgages, and total purchases were 9,005.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 7.3%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 2.31%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 7.3%
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 Port St. Lucie 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 supply5.8 mo.▼ from 5.9 mo. a year ago
Median days on market82 days▼ from 89 days a year ago
Listings with price drops25.3%▼ from 29.6% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio96.3%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 2.5%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 2.31%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield7.3%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 steady23→23
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 59% and rents 61%. 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
23| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 42 | 30% | 12.60 |
| Rent trend | 33 | 25% | 8.25 |
| Affordability | 3 | 15% | 0.45 |
| Supply pressure | 4 | 15% | 0.60 |
| Climate risk | 6 | 15% | 0.90 |
| Published score | 23 | ||
Port St. Lucie, FL scoreRank #552
23Job growth42/100
CES employment declined 0.07% year over year -> the labor signal does not support a growth-led demand thesis.
Rent trend33/100
Median asking rent rose 2.31% year over year -> current rent movement is positive, although durability is not established.
Affordability3/100
Rent equals 37.8% of median household income and home value equals 5.15 times income -> affordability is strained for renters and buyers.
Supply pressure4/100
Inventory is 5.8 months and permits total 4,632 -> buyers face both current inventory and a permitting pipeline.
Climate risk6/100
Hurricane wind is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.3761% -> hazard exposure requires asset-specific 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
$384k
YoY ▼ 2.5%
ZORI Median Rent
$2,347
YoY ▲ 2.31%
Gross Rental Yield
7.3%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$2,347 × 12 ÷ $383,710
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 0.1%
CES payrolls
Job signal 42/100
Median Household Income
$75k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
37.8%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.2x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,757
Market rent 133.6% 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$2,347Primary 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 ↗$1,467−$880 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 ↗$1,757−$590 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 ↗$1,580−$767 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 Port St. Lucie as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Port St. Lucie, FL
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 38940. 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$1,3922026-07 · -0.6% year over year
Rental vacancy7.2%2026-07 · -2.5 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.
measured retention property tax vacancy
- Gross yield
- 7.3%
- Vacancy
- 7.2%
- Effective tax
- 0.9%
- Retained yield
- 5.9%
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Port St. Lucie
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
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$34,590 median wage
81.4%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$44,510 median wage
63.3%
Sales and Related Occupations$36,120 median wage
78.0%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$82,090 median wage
34.3%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$38,960 median wage
72.3%
Construction and Extraction Occupations$48,610 median wage
57.9%
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
4,560 units authorised in 2026, 1% 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
+5,547
19,797 in vs 14,250 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 28.0% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$27,724
Arriving $98,321 vs leaving $70,597
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
7.3%
659 of 9,005 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
hurricane
0.376% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: wind
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Palm Beach County · Broward County · Miami-Dade County · Indian River County · Orange County
✓ 19,797 in − 14,250 out = 5,547 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
- Miami, FL8,105 arriving
- New York, NY1,603 arriving
- Sebastian, FL606 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Miami, FL2,775 leaving
- Sebastian, FL921 leaving
- Orlando, FL758 leaving
Directional moving briefs
Relocation routes involving Port St. Lucie
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
- Rent consumes 37.8% of median household income while the median home value is 5.15 times income, leaving little affordability cushion in the supplied measures.
- Inventory is 5.8 months and permits total 4,632, exposing owners to competition from available stock and permitted supply.
- Hurricane wind is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.3761%; property-level insurance and mitigation 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.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Port St. Lucie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port St. Lucie, FL (Target) | 23 | $384k | $2,347 | 7.3% | ▼ 0.1% |
| Palm Bay, FL | 29 | $344k | $1,914 | 6.7% | ▲ 0.2% |
| Cape Coral, FL | 13 | $338k | $1,874 | 6.6% | ▼ 0.6% |
| Deltona, FL | 31 | $332k | $1,795 | 6.5% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Pensacola, FL | 41 | $312k | $1,745 | 6.7% | ▲ 0.7% |
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 |