ZIP 02135 begins with a below-context but still rising asking-rent signal. At the June 2026 Zillow endpoint, ZIP ZORI is $3,117 per month, up 2.62% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is not a quote for every available home. For wider context, Boston city context rent is $3,469.070594145843, Suffolk County context rent is $3,423, and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro context rent is $3,210; every one is a wider-area comparison rather than a ZIP estimate. The immediate tension is that the ZIP index sits below all three broader benchmarks while its affordability screen remains demanding relative to local reported income.
The broader path reads as stable growth rather than a straight line. In exact same-month, annualized comparisons through the stated endpoint, the one-year change is 2.62%, the three-year change is 3.35%, and the five-year change is 6.29%. Thus, the latest positive direction confirms the longer upward path, but its pace is lower than both longer annualized measurements. Annualized monthly-return variability is 2.38%, maximum drawdown is -8.49%, and history coverage is 100%. The transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 1,006 for momentum, 512 for stability, and 432 for the balanced measure, with lower rank higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations. Complete coverage supports a more representative history, while variability and the prior drawdown limit confidence in treating one current index reading as a precise property-level rent.
The contrast with ACS should not be read as an error or a discount. The matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent is $2,249, versus the current asking-rent index above. ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and its gross-rent concept includes selected utilities; it is neither a current asking-rent series nor a measure limited to newly marketed units. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, even though the five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match here. Different timing, occupancy, and utility treatment can therefore coexist without establishing that any particular home should command either figure. This scope gap is central when comparing a listing with household-survey rent data.
Bedroom framing sharpens the gap but does not create observed bedroom rents. The modelled monthly ZIP estimates, scaled from ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder, are $2,200 for a studio, $2,375 for one bedroom, $3,117 for two bedrooms, $3,897 for three bedrooms, and $4,127 for four bedrooms. They are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents. The local HUD FMR/SAFMR ladder is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent: its studio, two-bedroom, and four-bedroom standards are $1,631, $2,311, and $3,060. The ladder provides a transparent relative-size pattern; it does not establish a listing’s condition, utilities, furnishing, lease terms, or actual bedroom premium. Readers should compare like-sized advertised units first and treat the outputs as ZIP-scaled reference points.
The income tension is sharper when applying a consistent arithmetic screen to the index. A $3,117 monthly asking-rent index requires $124,680 in annual income at a 30% rent-to-income screen, compared with a ZCTA median household income of $90,829. Annualizing the index against that median yields 41.2%, which is a ratio comparison across different source universes, not a household budget. The 30% screen is arithmetic only, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. Separately, ACS reports 7,456 renter households spending at least that share of income on gross rent, equal to 46.0% of 16,219 renter-occupied homes. That burden estimate describes surveyed households collectively; it cannot prove a particular renter’s finances or a particular unit’s affordability.
Housing counts add supply context without showing available choices. The ACS ZCTA contains 22,379 housing units, with 1,236 vacant units and a 5.5% vacancy rate. Renters account for 76.7% of occupied homes, and 562 units are classified vacant for rent. These aggregates are consistent with a renter-majority occupancy base, but they do not identify which homes are actively offered, their asking prices, their condition, or their lease readiness. Vacancy is a status category at the survey level, not confirmation that a usable comparable unit exists. It should therefore be read alongside the current asking-rent index and property-level availability rather than as evidence of negotiating room or an outcome for a specific address.
The practical limit is alignment: a ZIP-wide blended index, a ZCTA household survey, and an administrative HUD standard answer different questions on different schedules. No source here measures the advertised rent, utility package, or concession on a given apartment, and historical index movement does not make those terms predictable. Before using this report for a specific property, confirm the address’s delivery ZIP and market match, advertised monthly rent, bedroom count, included and excluded utilities, building type, availability date, lease duration, fees, concessions, and any income or occupancy requirements. Then compare the verified all-in terms to the appropriate source universe: current ZORI for ZIP-level asking context, ACS for occupied-household context, and HUD for the administrative ladder. Does the specific listing’s documented terms and bedroom configuration actually match the scope of the comparison?