WHAT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION SAYSAcross the 26 current published direct-evidence ZIP reports, the Zillow ZORI observed asking-rent index has a $1,479 median, running from $1,043 to $2,086. Mason’s 45040 anchors the high end and Cincinnati’s 45238 the low end among this reporting universe. That dispersion makes a statewide “typical rent” only a starting point: the practical comparison is the current asking-rent level in a candidate ZIP, its relation to local income measures, and whether recent price movement has been smooth or uneven. At a practical level, a renter’s budget will map differently onto this measured range before household income, bedroom needs, and other costs are considered. That framing keeps the comparison focused on recorded rent measures rather than assuming that a city name, a ZIP label, or a statewide figure describes an individual rental. The figures describe the published-report distribution, rather than every Ohio delivery ZIP, neighborhood, listing, or rental home.
Income alignment and renter burden point to related but distinct questions. The median current asking-rent-to-income ratio is 26.6%, with Dublin 43016 at 17.8% and Cleveland 44106 at 46.1%; this ratio places the current ZORI asking-rent index beside ACS five-year ZCTA median household income. Separately, the ACS five-year share of renter households paying at least 30 percent of income toward gross rent has a 44.7% median, ranging from 24.6% in Mason 45040 to 56.7% in Columbus 43201. The first is a current-price-to-income screen, while the second summarizes surveyed households’ gross-rent burden, so neither substitutes for the other or establishes what a particular household can pay.
Momentum is also not volatility. In the direct monthly Zillow series, the median one-year annualized rent change is 2.3%, from a 2.0% decline in Columbus 43228 to 7.9% growth in Cuyahoga Falls 44221. Annualized volatility has a 3.1% median but ranges from 2.0% in Dublin 43016 to 4.4% in Cleveland 44109. The high-volatility endpoint still posted positive one-year growth, so change direction and path variability should be read independently. Both are backward-looking monthly-series measures, not a projection of future rent changes.
HUD supplies a separate administrative reference, not a market-rent verdict. The direct asking-rent-to-HUD two-bedroom benchmark has a 102% median, but it runs from 72.4% in Columbus 43215 to 155.2% in Shaker Heights 44122. HUD FMR/SAFMR figures are bedroom standards derived through an administrative program; ZORI is an observed asking-rent index and is not bedroom-specific in this comparison. A ratio above or below the benchmark therefore does not identify an equivalent unit, tenant payment, lease concession, utility treatment, or property-level asking rent. Likewise, the ACS observations are five-year ZCTA survey estimates, and ZCTAs do not exactly match USPS delivery ZIPs.
