For 43235, the five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow’s June 2026 ZORI is $1,440. It is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it describes a ZIP-level market reading rather than a rent quoted for one home. Its near-term signal needs to be read with the history, household survey, HUD standard, and resale evidence kept in their separate universes. The central tension is not a single current value, but an index whose recent movement has become muted while the direct for-sale record shows a much firmer price change.
At the stated history endpoint, exact same-month ZORI changes are 0.3% over one year, 1.8% annualized over three years, and 3.9% annualized over five years. Direction remains positive, but the latest pace breaks from the longer path’s faster growth rate. The series has 100% coverage across 70 observations and 69 consecutive returns. Measured annualized variability of monthly returns is 2.2%, which gives comparatively more confidence in one current index snapshot than a highly erratic history would. Separately, the worst peak-to-trough decline was 1.6%, showing that even this stable record experienced declines. National discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 1,990 for momentum, 259 for stability, and 1,159 for the balanced measure, with lower ranks stronger. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The ZIP reading is below each wider rent context. The Columbus city rent context is $1,456, the Franklin County rent context is $1,510, and the Columbus, OH metro rent context is $1,528. Those values are context only, not alternate readings for this ZIP, and each applies to a larger geography with its own housing mix and source construction. The comparison establishes that the ZIP-level asking-rent index is lower than the named city, county, and metro context values, but it does not explain why that difference exists or establish a property-level rent advantage.
The matched ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent is $1,477, with a $32 ninety-percent margin of error. The current asking-rent index is 2.5% below that survey median, but the figures are not interchangeable: ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, whereas ZORI tracks observed asking rents. Median household income in the ACS area is $86,666, and the index-to-income arithmetic is 19.9%. Applying the 30% screen to the current index produces $57,600 in required annual income; that calculation is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Separately, 45.9% of renter households met the ACS rent-burden threshold, a survey result that cannot identify the burden of any particular household or unit.
HUD’s FY2026 FMR/SAFMR ladder is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Its studio standard is $1,310 and its four-bedroom standard is $2,280. Scaling ZIP ZORI by that local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,116 for a studio, $1,201 for one bedroom, $1,440 for two bedrooms, $1,730 for three bedrooms, and $1,943 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates rather than measured bedroom rents. The ladder is useful for applying a consistent bedroom-size relationship to the ZIP index, but it does not establish current listings, signed leases, utility terms, or the rent of a specific unit.
ACS housing-stock estimates describe a substantial mixed structure base: 20,762 housing units, including 11,441 single-family units and 3,299 units in large multifamily structures. Renter households account for 49.6% of occupied units. The matched ZCTA reports a 3.9% vacancy rate, with 196 units classified as vacant for rent. These are survey-area stock and vacancy classifications rather than a live inventory of available rentals. In particular, a vacant-for-rent count does not prove that a particular unit is currently available, suitable, priced at the index level, or offered under comparable lease terms.
The direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation records a median sold price of $456,397, up 11.9% year over year, with 146 homes sold and a median 35 days on market. Its inventory count is 105 homes, with 2.2 months of supply. The average sale-to-list ratio is 101%; 44.4% of sales closed above list, while 73.3% went off market within two weeks. These are for-sale liquidity and pricing signals, not rental transactions or rental comps. The resale price movement creates a clear tension with the muted latest rent movement and challenges any simple cross-market momentum story. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by median sold price is 3.8%, but that is only a cross-source screening ratio—not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.
Neither an aggregate ZORI reading nor ACS burden and vacancy measures can set the rent, availability, condition, or utility responsibility of a particular property. Resolving the remaining uncertainty requires property-level checks of the actual advertised rent, bedroom definition, lease timing, concessions, fees, included utilities, and current availability. A for-sale listing also needs its own verification of listing or sale status and transaction details; Redfin’s ZIP resale block cannot be substituted for rental evidence. The key question is whether the exact property’s documented terms align with the separate asking-rent, survey, HUD, and resale measures rather than being assumed from any one of them.