June 2026 Zillow ZORI for 10003 was $5,328, a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a quote for any particular available home. The index was 9.2% above its year-earlier level. The five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. At the current ZORI, the 30% required-income screen equals $213,120 annually. That screen is arithmetic based on the index, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. It frames the present mismatch between a high asking-rent snapshot and broad household-income measures, but it cannot establish what a specific renter can afford.
The matched ACS 2024 five-year survey describes a different universe: occupied renter homes, rather than newly observed asking rents. Its median gross rent was $3,049 and includes selected utilities, making it unsuitable as a direct substitute for ZORI. Current asking rent was 1.75 times that gross-rent median, a gap that may reflect differences in universe, timing, rental types, utility treatment, and the distinction between occupied homes and currently marketed stock. Median household income in the ZCTA was $154,262, with reported survey uncertainty, while 45.1% of renter households were measured as paying at least 30% of income toward gross rent. The burden statistic is a population measure, not evidence about any individual lease or unit.
The bedroom series should be read as modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD ladder produces estimated monthly levels of $3,865 for a studio, $4,483 for one bedroom, $5,328 for two bedrooms, $6,526 for three bedrooms, and $7,520 for four bedrooms. The local HUD FMR/SAFMR standards used in that scaling run from $1,898 for a studio to $3,693 for four bedrooms, with $2,616 for two bedrooms. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent; its role here is to set relative bedroom spacing. Neither the HUD figures nor the resulting modelled estimates establish achieved rents, advertised rents, unit quality, or lease terms for a given bedroom count.
Housing-stock evidence adds an important qualification to the rent screen. The ACS ZCTA contains 30,413 housing units, of which 24,503 were occupied and 5,910 were vacant, producing a 19.4% vacancy rate under the survey definition. Renters occupied 62.9% of occupied homes, and 21,998 units were in large multifamily structures. Vacancy categories include homes marked for rent, for sale, seasonal use, and other statuses, so the total should not be treated as a count of immediately rentable apartments. It also cannot prove availability, condition, concession levels, or pricing for a particular unit. The stock data describe the survey area’s composition and occupancy, not current listing inventory.
Against wider Zillow asking-rent context, the ZIP sits above each reported comparator: the New York city-context index was $4,133, the New York County-context index was $4,833, and the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro-context index was $3,573. These city, county, and metro figures are wider-scope context only, not substitutes for the ZIP observation or evidence that all subareas share the same rental conditions. Their main analytical use is to show that the ZIP’s current asking-rent index is comparatively elevated across the supplied geographies. They do not reconcile the Zillow index with ACS gross rent, and they should not be used to infer a building-level rent premium.
The rent history is positive but uneven. Exact same-month annualized ZORI changes were 9.2% over one year, 6.1% over three years, and 9.4% over five years. Recent growth therefore confirms the longer positive direction, yet it is stronger than the intermediate path and slightly below the longer five-year pace, rather than showing a uniform acceleration. Measured annualized monthly-return variability was 3.8%, indicating that monthly rent-index changes have not been smooth. Separately, the maximum drawdown reached 20.0%, showing a material historical retreat from an earlier index peak. With 100% coverage, the series has complete supplied history coverage; its transparent national discovery ranks were 60 for momentum, 2478 for stability, and 725 for the balanced measure, where lower ranks are higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations, and the variability and drawdown both reduce confidence in treating one current rent snapshot as a stable trend line.
Direct ZIP resale evidence presents a different tension. Redfin’s rolling resale observation reports a median sold price of $1,542,151, up 12.2% year over year, alongside 99 homes sold and a median 63 days on market. It also records 443 active listings, inventory of 256 homes, 170 pending sales, and 7.9 months of supply. Average sale-to-list was 99.7%, while the sold-above-list and early-off-market signals remain part of this for-sale universe rather than rental evidence. The price increase confirms that the resale median rose while asking rent also advanced, but the marketing time, supply, and near-list average challenge any simple reading of uniformly tight resale liquidity. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is 4.15%; it is only a cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.
The supplied evidence supports disciplined comparison, not property-specific conclusions. ZORI does not identify an actual advertised unit, ACS does not represent current listings, HUD does not measure market asking rent, and Redfin resale records do not describe rental transactions. Before applying these ZIP-level signals to a property, a reader should check the exact advertised rent by bedroom count, included utilities, lease duration, fees, concessions, availability date, unit condition, building characteristics, and whether the location falls within the relevant geographic definitions. For a sale comparison, review the individual property’s sale status, list history, physical attributes, and transaction timing rather than applying the ZIP median mechanically. The vacancy and burden measures should remain area-level context, never proof of a particular apartment’s availability or affordability.