All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / Washington / Shelton
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Shelton, WA
Shelton merits investigation by buyers who prioritize rent momentum and employment support, but buyers needing strong entry affordability or low hazard exposure should avoid it.
Median price$457k
Median rent$1,911
Gross yield5.0%
Job growth▲ 1.0%
Composite Market ScoreRank #218 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Shelton, WA?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,911 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 4.45% 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 Shelton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason County, WAFIPS 53045 | $1,030 | $1,032 | $1,354 | $1,883 | $2,097 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Shelton merits investigation by buyers who prioritize rent momentum and employment support, but buyers needing strong entry affordability or low hazard exposure should avoid it. Asking rent rose 4.45% year over year while LAUS jobs rose 1%, giving the demand picture some support.
The opportunity is rent growth without a higher home value: median asking rent is $1,911, gross yield is 5.02%, and home value was nearly flat at -0.01% year over year. Net migration was positive at 335 households, and incoming movers had average income $10,030 above outgoing movers.
The risk is that the $457,178 median value equals 5.49 times median household income, while 33.67% of listings had price drops. Earthquake is the dominant hazard, and the annual loss ratio is 0.2841% of building value. Treat the rental trend as an opportunity, not proof that pricing or hazard exposure is acceptable.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What are the reported rental economics?
Median asking rent is $1,911 per month, up 4.45% year over year, with a 5.02% gross yield.
What does migration show?
Tax filings show 2,222 households moved in and 1,887 moved out, producing net migration of 335; incoming movers averaged $75,595 in income versus $65,565 for outgoing movers.
What are current resale conditions?
Inventory is 4.7 months, median time on market is 24 days, and 33.67% of listings had price drops.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 5.0%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 4.45%
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.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Shelton 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 supply4.7 mo.▲ from 3.9 mo. a year ago
Median days on market24 days▲ from 16 days a year ago
Listings with price drops33.7%▲ from 27.3% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.1%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 0.0%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 4.45%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield5.0%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 1.0%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 steady54→54
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.
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
54| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 80 | 30% | 24.00 |
| Rent trend | 67 | 25% | 16.75 |
| Affordability | 33 | 15% | 4.95 |
| Supply pressure | 41 | 15% | 6.15 |
| Climate risk | 12 | 15% | 1.80 |
| Published score | 54 | ||
Shelton, WA scoreRank #218
54Job growth80/100
LAUS jobs grew 1% year over year -> the labor-market signal offers some support for rental demand.
Rent trend67/100
Asking rent grew 4.45% and gross yield is 5.02% -> rental income is rising, but the gross figure does not establish net returns.
Affordability33/100
Rent equals 27.54% of median income and price equals 5.49 times income -> buyer affordability is the clearer constraint.
Supply pressure41/100
Permits totaled 128, equal to 1.88 per thousand residents, with 4.7 months of inventory -> buyers face limited permitting alongside available resale inventory.
Climate risk12/100
Earthquake is the dominant hazard and the annual loss ratio is 0.2841% -> property-level hazard and insurance review is important.
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
$457k
YoY ▼ 0.0%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,911
YoY ▲ 4.45%
Gross Rental Yield
5.0%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,911 × 12 ÷ $457,178
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 1.0%
LAUS payrolls
Job signal 80/100
Median Household Income
$83k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
27.5%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.5x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,354
Market rent 141.1% 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$1,911Primary 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 ↗$1,032−$879 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 ↗$1,354−$557 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 ↗$1,285−$626 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 Shelton 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
128 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
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
+335
2,222 in vs 1,887 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 15.1% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$10,030
Arriving $75,595 vs leaving $65,565
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
5.0%
54 of 1,075 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
earthquake
0.284% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: other
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Kitsap County · Thurston County · Pierce County · King County · Grays Harbor County
✓ 2,222 in − 1,887 out = 335 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
- Seattle, WA583 arriving
- Bremerton, WA382 arriving
- Olympia, WA366 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Olympia, WA361 leaving
- Seattle, WA350 leaving
- Bremerton, WA281 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
- The $457,178 median value and 5.49 price-to-income ratio create a high acquisition burden relative to local earnings.
- Home values slipped 0.01% year over year and 33.67% of listings had price drops, signaling resale softness.
- Earthquake is the dominant hazard, and the 0.2841% annual loss ratio represents building-value exposure.
Inside this micro 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
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Shelton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelton, WA (Target) | 54 | $457k | $1,911 | 5.0% | ▲ 1.0% |
| Easton, MD | 41 | $498k | $2,310 | 5.6% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Elko, NV | 69 | $372k | $1,507 | 4.9% | ▲ 1.6% |
| Brenham, TX | 46 | $376k | $1,713 | 5.5% | ▲ 1.3% |
| Pinehurst, NC | 51 | $420k | $1,934 | 5.5% | ▲ 1.8% |
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 |