A rent-versus-resale split is the key starting point in 66047. This five-digit label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow ZORI for the ZIP is $1,490, up 6.25% year over year. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is a market index rather than a quote for one available home. Annualized ZORI divided by the ZIP median sold price produces a 4.68% cross-source screening ratio only. It is not a property-level operating measure and cannot stand in for property economics or reconcile the rental and resale datasets.
Behind that current rent level, exact same-month annualized ZORI changes were 6.25% over 1 year, 5.82% over 3 years, and 7.20% over 5 years. The most recent direction therefore confirms, rather than breaks from, a longer record of positive growth, although the recent pace sits below the full five-year pace. Backward-looking monthly-return volatility annualized to 1.88%, maximum drawdown was -1.10%, and history coverage was 98.46%. In the transparent national history discovery ranks, momentum ranked 156, stability 72, and the combined balanced measure 14, where lower ranks are higher. These are measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations. The contained variability and shallow drawdown support somewhat more confidence in one current index snapshot than a highly erratic series would, while never guaranteeing persistence.
ACS answers a different question. The matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey puts median gross rent at $1,147, with a reported margin of error of $71, and gross rent covers occupied renter homes plus selected utilities. Current ZORI is 29.9% above that survey median, a difference that can reflect definition, timing, utility treatment, and the surveyed occupied-home universe; it does not establish a change in the rent of a specific unit. At their named wider scopes, the City of Lawrence city-context rent is $1,288, while Douglas County county-context rent and the Lawrence, KS metro-context rent are each $1,294. Those city, county, and metro values are context only, not substitutes for the ZIP-level asking-rent index or ZCTA survey.
Bedroom figures are constructed rather than observed rental comps. The FY2026 local HUD bedroom ladder runs from $895 for a studio to $1,983 for four bedrooms; HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. Scaling the ZIP ZORI by that local ladder creates modelled monthly ZIP estimates from $1,128 for a studio to $2,500 for four bedrooms. The modelled two-bedroom estimate is $1,490, aligned mechanically with the HUD two-bedroom standard of $1,182. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and they should not be treated as evidence of a unit’s actual availability, lease terms, utilities, or condition.
An income screen gives another view but remains mechanical. At a 30% rent-to-income screen, annual income needed to support the current index is $59,600. The ZCTA’s ACS median household income is $65,392, placing the ZIP asking-rent-to-income arithmetic at 27.3% using that area-wide median. This screen is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule; household income and rent obligations vary materially within a survey geography. The more direct burden signal is still substantial: ACS reports 2,562 of 4,932 occupied renter homes with rent burden at or above the threshold, or 51.9%. That burden count has a reported margin of error of 567. The survey burden describes households in aggregate and cannot prove anything about a particular dwelling or household.
Housing composition cautions against reading either a ZORI index or the burden share as a vacancy count. In the matched ZCTA survey, the stock totals 9,291 housing units and the vacancy rate is 2.1%. There are 5,410 single-family units, while the renter share of occupied homes is 54.2%; large multifamily structures are a separately counted part of the stock as well. These ACS counts describe a five-year survey geography, not a live listing feed. In particular, the vacancy statistic cannot establish that a suitable unit is open, its asking price, its bedroom count, or whether it is offered to a given household. It instead sets a structural backdrop for the renter and rent-burden measures.
Resale evidence supplies the clearest challenge to a rent-only reading. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation reports a $382,414 median sold price, up 26.44% year over year. It records 37 homes sold with median marketing time of 33 days, inventory of 61 homes that was 15.63% higher than a year earlier, and 5.0 months of supply. Average sale-to-list was 99.34%, and 19.46% of sales closed above list. This is direct ZIP resale evidence, not rental transactions, rental comps, or property economics. The materially faster resale price increase confirms a rent-versus-sale split, while rising inventory and supply above the Lawrence, KS metro context challenge any assumption that smooth rent growth or the income screen signals proportionately constrained resale supply.
No series here can identify the rent or sale economics of a particular property. Zillow blends types into a typical asking-rent index; ACS is a five-year sample of occupied renter homes with selected utilities; HUD supplies a non-market administrative standard; and Redfin tracks completed resale activity in a rolling window. Before applying these aggregates to an address, verify the current advertised rent and availability, bedroom configuration, property type, lease length, utility allocation, mandatory fees, concessions, furnishings, condition, and comparable nearby live listings. For a sale comparison, verify the specific closing date, list price, sale price, financing or concession terms where disclosed, and physical comparability. Does the actual unit’s documented rent package and bedroom profile match the assumptions behind this ZIP-level screen?