Every row links to a complete local ZIP report.
RentMarker Research · published ZIP evidence
Asking-rent pressure and renter burden can tell different local stories.
We compared 1,500 published ZIP reports using current asking rent, household income, observed renter burden and two separately labelled rent benchmarks.
Annualized current ZORI divided by ACS median household income.
Renter households spending at least 30% on gross rent.
Agreement between two unlike, independently measured pressure signals.
The decision question
Where does current asking rent look difficult to support—and where does the household record disagree?
Current Zillow ZIP ZORI divided by ACS median household income gives a simple asking-rent share. Across this published set, the median is 26.6%. It answers a useful but narrow question: how large would twelve months of the current asking-rent index be relative to the median household income? It does not know a renter’s bedroom requirement, utilities, debt, taxes, household size or actual lease.
ACS renter burden answers a different question. It measures the share of renter households already spending at least 30% of income on gross rent in the ACS sample. The published-set median is 49.3%. Because ACS is lagged and includes occupied units, it should not be treated as a validation of current ZORI. Agreement is a stronger pressure signal. Disagreement is a reason to investigate turnover, unit mix, income distribution and the time gap—not a defect to average away.
Every published ZIP shown
Two pressure measures, four descriptive patterns
Clay points are above both sample medians. Emerald points include split-signal and lower-pressure observations.
Complete published set
The corpus does not collapse into one verdict
Every ZIP enters exactly one group. Median boundaries organize evidence rather than define what is affordable.
Regional context
Regional medians preserve three separate scales
Income share, observed burden and Zillow/HUD ratio are displayed together for comparison but never normalized into a score.
Benchmark discipline
A Zillow-to-HUD gap is not proof that a ZIP is overpriced.
In 744 of 1,500 published rows, current Zillow ZORI is at or above HUD’s two-bedroom FMR; the median ratio is 1.00×. HUD FMR is an administrative benchmark built for a specific program purpose and bedroom count. ZORI is a current asking-rent index across its observed rental universe. The ratio reveals definition-sensitive distance. It does not reveal concessions, lease terms, quality or an address-level fair rent.
The ACS comparison is different again. Current ZORI is at or above ACS median gross rent in 1,232 rows, with a published-set median ratio of 1.16×. ACS gross rent reflects occupied units and may include utilities. A larger ratio can be consistent with current listings running ahead of the occupied stock, but the data cannot isolate why. For that reason the atlas exposes both ratios and never blends Zillow, HUD and ACS into one rent estimate.
Twelve transparent examples
High, split and lower signals from every Census region
Three deterministic examples per region demonstrate both agreement and counter-signals. They are not recommendations.
| ZIP / place | Region | Pattern | Asking rent | Rent / income | Burden | Zillow / HUD | Zillow / ACS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10002 · New York, NYNew York County | Northeast | Both measures above median | $4,875 | 120.9% | 50.2% | 1.86× | 3.97× |
| 10027 · New York, NYNew York County | Northeast | Asking-rent share above median | $3,850 | 77.5% | 46.5% | 1.47× | 2.51× |
| 19130 · Philadelphia, PAPhiladelphia County | Northeast | Both measures below median | $1,946 | 20.8% | 32.2% | 0.78× | 1.04× |
| 60624 · Chicago, ILCook County | Midwest | Both measures above median | $1,804 | 63.6% | 62.3% | 1.17× | 1.55× |
| 68526 · Lincoln, NELancaster County | Midwest | Observed burden above median | $1,410 | 14.9% | 67.2% | 1.34× | 1.04× |
| 68135 · Omaha, NEDouglas County | Midwest | Both measures below median | $1,869 | 15.6% | 21.6% | 0.91× | 1.06× |
| 33127 · Miami, FLMiami-Dade County | South | Both measures above median | $2,959 | 86.1% | 64.4% | 1.27× | 2.03× |
| 78253 · San Antonio, TXBexar County | South | Observed burden above median | $1,573 | 17.7% | 65.2% | 0.98× | 0.97× |
| 27519 · Cary, NCWake County | South | Both measures below median | $2,040 | 14.8% | 26.4% | 0.91× | 1.05× |
| 90017 · Los Angeles, CALos Angeles County | West | Both measures above median | $2,653 | 60.4% | 63.6% | 0.86× | 1.46× |
| 94102 · San Francisco, CASan Francisco County | West | Asking-rent share above median | $3,488 | 69.3% | 43.7% | 0.97× | 2.27× |
| 98117 · Seattle, WAKing County | West | Both measures below median | $2,402 | 15.8% | 28.0% | 0.96× | 1.10× |
Method, boundaries and reproducibility
Inclusion
A row must have an eligible ZIP profile and a current published ZIP article, plus direct Zillow ZIP rent, population, ACS income and burden, HUD two-bedroom FMR, ACS median gross rent and both precomputed benchmark ratios. No city, county or metro value fills a ZIP gap.
Pressure groups
The two splits use exact published-set medians: 26.6% for asking rent to income and 49.3% for observed burden. Values on a median enter the above-median half. Four groups partition every row once.
Time and geography
Asking rent ends 2026-06. Household evidence is ACS 2024 5-year. ACS uses ZCTAs, statistical approximations of ZIP delivery areas. Period and geography differences remain visible rather than being forced into false alignment.
Benchmark ratios
ZORI ÷ HUD 2BR FMR and ZORI ÷ ACS median gross rent remain separate. Neither ratio is an overpricing estimate, lease recommendation or prediction.
Not measured
The study does not observe concessions, bedroom mix, address-level condition, household size, utilities for every listing, signed leases, vacancy, tenant quality or future rent. A property decision requires current local comparables.
Rebuild
The CSV contains every displayed input, Census region, descriptive group, source periods and method version. Charts, examples and headline counts recompute from the same server dataset.