WHAT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION SAYSWithin Iowa’s current published direct-evidence ZIP reports, the latest Zillow ZORI asking-rent index runs from $780 to $1,658, versus a $1,249 median. That $878 spread makes a state midpoint a weak stand-in for a location-specific search: Davenport’s 52807 marks the low end, while Waukee’s 50263 marks the high end. The practical question is therefore not simply whether asking rents are high statewide, but how a prospective renter’s budget, income, and tolerance for changing rents align with the particular reported ZIP. This is a distribution of current published direct-evidence reports, not every Iowa ZIP, neighborhood, listing, signed lease, or rental property.
Affordability and renter burden answer different questions. The current asking-rent-to-income calculation—ZORI asking rent divided by ACS median household income—ranges from 12.9% to 28.0%, with a 19.3% median. Iowa City’s result is at the high end of that ratio, whereas Waukee’s is 19.4% despite sitting at the distribution’s high asking-rent end. The ACS five-year share of renter households paying 30% or more of income toward rent instead ranges from 32.6% to 61.6%, with a 45.8% median; Iowa City is also the upper endpoint. This burden measure describes surveyed households and their gross-rent circumstances, while the ratio applies a current asking-rent index to area median income. They can move differently and should not be treated as the same affordability test. ACS results are ZCTA estimates, and ZCTAs are statistical areas rather than identical USPS delivery ZIPs.
Rent momentum and instability also require separate reads because both are derived here only from the direct monthly Zillow series. The median annualized one-year change is 2.7%, but reports range from 0.9% in Cedar Falls to 11.6% in Cedar Rapids; half the histories are classified accelerating. Annualized volatility has a 2.8% median and a 2.1%–3.9% range. Thus Cedar Rapids’ fastest recent rise coincides with 3.3% volatility but not the maximum variability: West Des Moines 50265 has the high end of volatility despite 1.4% one-year growth. Davenport recorded the deepest historical maximum drawdown, 8.2%, underscoring that a recent growth rate does not summarize its entire monthly path. These are historical descriptions, not projections.
HUD supplies a different reference point: the administrative two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR benchmark ranges from $956 to $1,590 across these reports. Current ZORI asking rent as a share of that benchmark ranges from 68.2% to 132.2%, and the median is 107.7%. This comparison can flag where the two measures are far apart, but it does not establish a prevailing lease price or a renter’s eligibility. HUD’s bedroom-specific standard is not an observed asking-rent measure, and it is not matched to a particular property’s size, condition, lease terms, utilities, or availability. The evidence likewise has no property-level listings or transactions, so it cannot determine what any individual home will ask or rent for.
