Pullman, WA cityscape
Markets / Washington / Pullman
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Pullman, WA

Pullman merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak labor and affordability signals.

Median price$334k
Median rent$1,515
Gross yield5.4%
Job growth▼ 0.5%
Micro Area · CBSA 3942040 public sourcesChecked nightly
SCORE / 10060RANK #150 / 571
Composite Market ScoreRank #150 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer

How much is rent in Pullman, WA?

Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,515 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 6.90% from a year earlier.

Zillow ZORI$1,5152026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

Census ACS gross rent$1,049ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

HUD 2BR FMR$1,169FY2026 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 Pullman

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
Whitman County, WAFIPS 53075$806$891$1,169$1,626$1,961
The read

Why this market scores where it does

Pullman merits investigation by yield-focused buyers who can tolerate weak labor and affordability signals. Buyers relying on broad job expansion, positive migration, or easy household budgets should avoid it.

The opportunity is current rent performance against constrained new supply: median asking rent is $1,515, up 6.9% year over year, with a 5.44% gross yield. Only 40 permits and 2.8 months of for-sale supply show limited permitting and tight inventory.

The counterweight is fragile demand and execution risk. LAUS employment fell 0.49%, rent absorbs 32.81% of median income, and net migration was -21 households. Price reductions on 40.15% of listings temper the tight-supply signal, while the 0.1164% climate loss ratio makes inland-flood diligence asset-specific.

Frequently Asked Investor Questions

What do the headline price and rent imply for gross income?
A $334,302 median home value and $1,515 median asking rent correspond to the reported 5.44% gross yield.
Do employment and migration support demand?
Not currently: LAUS employment is down 0.49% year over year, with 1,937 households moving in and 1,958 moving out, for net migration of -21.
How competitive is the for-sale market?
Inventory is 2.8 months and median days on market is 19, but 40.15% of listings had price drops.

Investor Quick Takeaways

Gross Yield: 5.4%

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

Rent Momentum: ▲ 6.90%

Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.

Investor Activity: 5.0%

Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).

Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI

Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.

Run Cash-Flow Test for Pullman
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 supply2.8 mo.▼ from 4.8 mo. a year ago
Median days on market19 days▼ from 39 days a year ago
Listings with price drops40.2%▲ from 27.0% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio98.9%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 0.3%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 6.90%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.4%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▼ 0.5%LAUS · 12m to 2026-05
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 steady6060
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.

Jobs42Rent trend88Affordability9Supply90Climate safety72
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
60
SignalScoreWeightPoints
Job growth4230%12.60
Rent trend8825%22.00
Affordability915%1.35
Supply pressure9015%13.50
Climate risk7215%10.80
Published score60
Pullman, WA scoreRank #150
60
Job growth42/100

LAUS employment fell 0.49% year over year -> current labor data do not support a job-led demand case.

Rent trend88/100

Median asking rent rose 6.9% to $1,515 and gross yield is 5.44% -> headline rental income is the market's clearest opportunity, while net returns are not published.

Affordability9/100

A $334,302 home value equals 6.03 times median income, while rent takes 32.81% of income -> both ownership and renting face affordability pressure.

Supply pressure90/100

Permits totaled 40, inventory was 2.8 months, and 40.15% of listings had price drops -> supply is limited, but sellers still face price resistance.

Climate risk72/100

Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the climate loss ratio is 0.1164% -> property-level water exposure and insurance terms 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
$334k
YoY ▲ 0.3%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,515
YoY ▲ 6.90%
Gross Rental Yield
5.4%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,515 × 12 ÷ $334,302
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 0.5%
LAUS payrolls
Job signal 42/100
Median Household Income
$55k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
32.8%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
6.0x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,169
Market rent 129.6% 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
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$1,515HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$891HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,169Census ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,049Monthly 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$1,515HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$891HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,169ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,049
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
$1,515Primary 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
$891−$624 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
$1,169−$346 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
$1,049−$466 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 Pullman as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.

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 ↓
4020242220254020265+ unit buildingssingle family
40 units authorised in 2026, 0% 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
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
−21
1,937 in vs 1,958 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 1.1% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$9,003
Arriving $46,851 vs leaving $55,854
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
5.0%
18 of 358 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.116% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →
Households arrive mainly from: Spokane County · Latah County · King County · Snohomish County · Pierce County
1,937 in − 1,958 out = -21 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. Seattle, WA230 arriving
  2. Spokane, WA187 arriving
  3. Moscow, ID181 arriving
Leading outbound markets
  1. Seattle, WA294 leaving
  2. Spokane, WA223 leaving
  3. Moscow, ID128 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. LAUS employment declined 0.49% and net migration was -21 households, leaving weaker demand evidence than the rent growth suggests.
  2. Median asking rent consumes 32.81% of median household income, which may limit tenants' capacity to absorb higher rents.
  3. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the record reports a 0.1164% climate loss ratio.
Statistical peers

Market areas that behave like Pullman

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
Pullman, WA (Target)60$334k$1,5155.4%▼ 0.5%
Huntsville, TX32$274k$1,3305.8%▼ 0.5%
Butte, MT45$293k$1,3345.5%▼ 0.2%
Coos Bay, OR48$355k$1,5805.3%▼ 0.1%
Klamath Falls, OR38$316k$1,2744.8%▲ 0.1%
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