June 2026 puts the ZIP-level Zillow Observed Rent Index, or ZORI, at $1,256 for this market. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types; it is not a signed-lease price, an advertised price for every home, or a bedroom-specific observation. In wider-market context, Cedar Rapids citywide context rent is $1,288, Linn County countywide context rent is $1,281, and Cedar Rapids, IA metro-area context rent is $1,274, each a wider-area comparison rather than a ZIP result. The ZIP therefore reads lower than all three current context rents, while its time pattern carries the more consequential tension.
That tension is a sharp, backward-looking acceleration. The exact same-month ZORI change was 11.59% over 1 year, versus annualized 7.08% over 3 years and 6.09% over 5 years. Thus, recent movement confirms the longer path of rising asking rent but breaks from its slower prior pace; it does not establish a forecast or investment outcome. The history has 100% coverage, and its annualized monthly-return variability was 3.34%, with a maximum drawdown of 3.49%. Those measures make the series complete for the observed period, but month-to-month variation means one current index point deserves less certainty than a stable property-specific quote. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 35 for momentum, 2,085 for stability, and 453 for the balanced measure, where a lower rank is higher.
The survey picture is materially different, not contradictory. In the matched Census ZCTA, the ACS 2024 five-year survey reports a $1,054 median gross rent for occupied renter homes; gross rent includes selected utilities. Current ZORI is 19.2% above that survey median. The gap compares different populations, definitions, and periods rather than competing asking-rent quotes. The ZCTA’s median household income is $73,439, a survey estimate that describes households rather than renter applicants or a property’s affordability. Keeping ZORI’s blended asking-rent universe separate from ACS occupied-home gross rent avoids treating the gap as rent growth, discounting, or proof of an individual household’s costs.
Bedroom detail is modelled rather than measured. For FY2026, the local HUD ladder uses administrative monthly standards of $659 for a studio, $956 for a two-bedroom, and $1,348 for a four-bedroom. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard, not asking rent. Scaling ZIP ZORI by that local ladder produces modelled monthly ZIP estimates of $866 for a studio, $958 for one bedroom, $1,256 for two bedrooms, $1,592 for three bedrooms, and $1,771 for four bedrooms. These estimates inherit the ZORI level and HUD bedroom relationship; they are not observed bedroom rents, availability counts, lease offers, or evidence that a particular unit will price at any rung.
At the ZORI level, the 30% required-income screen equals $50,240 of annual household income. This is arithmetic based on the index, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule; it is also distinct from the ZCTA-wide income median. The current asking index is 20.5% of the reported median household income when annualized, an aggregate ratio rather than a household budget. In ACS burden data, 2,672 of 6,175 renter households, or 43.3%, paid 30% or more of income toward gross rent. That five-year survey result can frame area-level cost pressure, but it cannot show that any given unit, tenant, or prospective renter is burdened.
The housing-stock lens is also aggregate. The ZCTA contains 20,225 housing units, with a 6.6% vacancy rate and a 32.7% renter share. Its structure count includes 13,559 single-family units and units classed as large multifamily buildings; those categories do not reveal condition, location, tenure rules, or rent for any listing. The 424 units classified as vacant for rent are a census category, not verified currently available rentals; vacancy likewise does not establish concessions, landlord screening, or a renter’s chance of securing a particular home. Alongside this stock information, renter-share and vacancy figures describe measured area composition, not proof of supply or demand at a property.
Finally, the 52402 label serves both as Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and as the matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, so an address-level listing can fall outside the survey boundary or index convention assumed here. The city, county, and metro figures remain context only, while the HUD standards and ACS estimates retain their separate purposes. Before relying on the snapshot, verify the listing’s actual asking rent, address and applicable market geography, bedroom count, included utilities, lease term, availability status, and any qualification or income calculation supplied by the property. Which of those property-level facts most changes the comparison between this blended asking-rent index, the modelled bedroom estimate, and the rent actually offered?