WHAT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION SAYSIndiana’s current published direct-evidence distribution puts the Zillow ZORI observed asking-rent index between $973 and $2,070 per month, a $1,097 span around a $1,739 median. The practical question is consequently not a single state rent, but which reported area aligns with a household’s budget and capacity to absorb rent movement. Westfield (46074) marks the high end, while Fort Wayne (46805) marks the low end. The statewide distribution is limited to 14 current published direct-evidence ZIP reports; it is not a census of every Indiana delivery ZIP, neighborhood, rental unit, or available listing. It describes reported market-index observations, not a complete inventory of rental units offered in any location at a given time.
Current asking-rent affordability and renter burden answer different questions. The annualized Zillow asking-rent-to-ACS-median-income ratio ranges from 15.9% in Carmel to 41.6% in West Lafayette. At a 30% income reference, the corresponding required annual income is $70,040 in Carmel and $73,640 in West Lafayette, versus their area median household incomes of $132,085 and $53,103. By contrast, the ACS five-year ZCTA share of renter households paying 30% or more of income toward gross rent ranges from 37.0% in Fishers to 61.8% in West Lafayette, with a 42.2% distribution median. The first is a current index-to-income comparison; the second is a surveyed household burden measure, so neither substitutes for the other.
Rent momentum should also be read separately from month-to-month variation in the direct Zillow series. One-year ZORI growth ranges from 0.04% in Greenfield to 10.15% in Evansville, compared with a 2.61% statewide-distribution median. Annualized volatility spans 1.96% in Greenwood to 4.75% in Evansville, with a 2.89% median. Evansville therefore combines the strongest one-year gain with the widest measured variation and a 5.25% maximum drawdown, and is classified high-variability. Greenfield’s nearly flat one-year result sits alongside 3.35% annualized growth over three years, a counter-signal against treating the latest growth reading as a full trend. These backward-looking measures describe observed rent-index history, not future paths.
HUD adds a useful but distinct administrative comparator. The current asking-rent-to-HUD-two-bedroom ratio is 85.8% in Carmel and 166.2% in West Lafayette; the published-distribution median is 102.7%. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a program and bedroom standard, not an asking-rent observation, and ZORI is not a quote for an identified two-bedroom home. Accordingly, a ratio above or below the benchmark does not establish that any particular listing is expensive, inexpensive, available, or suitable. Property-level assessment requires unit-specific asking rent, bedroom count, lease terms, and availability; the ACS income, gross-rent, vacancy, and burden figures remain area-level five-year ZCTA estimates rather than USPS ZIP facts.
