WHAT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION SAYSFlorida’s current published direct-evidence distribution spans 35 ZIP reports, rather than every Florida ZIP, neighborhood, or rental property. In the June 2026 Zillow ZORI ZIP release, observed asking-rent index levels range from $1,348 to $3,647, a $2,299 spread, around a $1,887 median. That dispersion makes a state shorthand less useful than asking which report is the relevant local comparison and whether a household can absorb its current asking-rent level. For a renter, the practical use is to set a local comparison and budget screen before interpreting history or benchmarks. The state distribution uses all current published direct-evidence reports; the displayed rows illustrate its measured extremes and renter-household coverage. ZORI supports price-level and change comparisons, not a particular unit’s lease terms.
Affordability screening and renter burden answer related but different questions. Across the reports, the direct asking-rent index divided by ACS median household income has a 35.3% median and spans 20.4% in ZIP 33647 to 62.5% in ZIP 33125. This is a current asking-rent-to-income screen, not a count of renter households actually crossing a burden threshold. Separately, ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA estimates put renter households paying 30% or more of income toward gross rent at a 59.5% median, spanning 36.2% to 69.6%. These are survey estimates for statistical ZCTAs rather than USPS delivery ZIPs, so the two measures should not be treated as interchangeable or geographically identical. They also cannot identify which individual renters face a current advertised price.
Rent momentum is a direct monthly Zillow-series question, not a volatility reading. The distribution’s one-year median change is -0.3%, while ZIP 32034 rose 13.2% and ZIP 33032 fell 4.4%. The latter’s annualized volatility is 7.2%, compared with a statewide low of 2.0%, and its maximum drawdown is -5.6%. Growth describes net change over the stated horizon; volatility and drawdown describe variation and historical retreat. A larger observed change does not, by itself, indicate a larger monthly fluctuation. These different series outputs should be read together without projecting the next period’s move.
HUD provides a different benchmark. The FY 2026 two-bedroom HUD FMR/SAFMR comparison has a 100.3% median asking-to-HUD ratio across these reports, with a 73.7% to 170.1% range. It gauges how a broad asking-rent index sits against an administrative bedroom standard; it is neither direct asking rent nor a property’s contract rent. Because the two inputs are not unit-matched, the ratio cannot establish an exact difference for a specific home. The available fields also do not identify a property’s bedroom count, condition, utilities, concessions, signed lease rent, or other terms that affect effective rent, so they do not support property-level quality claims.
