At the June 2026 reading, Zillow’s ZIP-level ZORI for 97211 was $2,060 per month, up 1.8% from the same month a year earlier. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is a current market indicator rather than a count of completed leases or a measured rent for one specific home. The modest current increase is the central rental signal: asking rents were still higher than a year earlier, but the pace is not especially rapid when placed beside the ZIP’s longer rent record. A reader using this figure should treat it as a broad current-rent snapshot, not a promise about an available unit’s rent, terms, utilities, or concessions.
The five-digit label is both the Zillow market identifier and the matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. In the ACS 2024 five-year survey, median gross rent was $1,863 among occupied renter homes; gross rent includes selected utilities and is not the same universe as Zillow asking rent. The current ZORI stands 10.6% above that survey median. HUD’s FY 2026 two-bedroom standard was $1,922, and the ZORI was 7.2% higher. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than an asking-rent observation, making it useful for a separate benchmark but not as a direct rental comp.
The local HUD ladder scales the ZIP ZORI into modelled bedroom estimates: $1,683 for a studio, $1,797 for one bedroom, $2,060 for two bedrooms, $2,807 for three bedrooms, and $3,332 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. Their purpose is to show how the local HUD bedroom relationships translate the overall Zillow index into a consistent size ladder. Actual listings may depart from these estimates because the ZORI blends rental types while individual properties have distinct layouts, lease structures, utility treatment, availability dates, and asking strategies. The ladder should therefore frame a search range rather than substitute for unit-level evidence.
The ZCTA’s median household income was $112,586, while arithmetic at a 30% rent-to-income threshold puts the annual income associated with the current asking-rent index at $82,400. The asking-rent-to-income screen is 22.0%; that is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. ACS reports that 49.1% of renter households were rent burdened at 30% or more, which is a household-level survey measure and cannot establish burden for a particular unit or tenant. Housing stock totaled 15,265 units, with a 5.2% vacancy rate. The stock included 11,714 single-family units and 992 units in large multifamily structures, while renters represented 37.6% of occupied homes.
For city context, Portland’s wider-area Zillow rent was $1,721; in county context, Multnomah County’s was $1,688; and in metro context, Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA registered $1,805. Each is broader context rather than a substitute for the ZIP index. The ZIP’s current asking-rent reading is above all three reference values, while the metro’s apartment vacancy rate was 6.4%. Those comparisons describe different geographic scopes and should not be read as evidence that every property in 97211 carries the same premium or faces the same availability conditions. They do, however, place the ZIP’s asking-rent level above the reported city, county, and metro rent contexts.
The complete history coverage supports a clear backward-looking comparison: exact same-month annualized ZORI growth was 1.8% over one year, 2.6% over three years, and 3.3% over five years. Recent direction therefore breaks from the faster longer-run path by slowing, even though the latest reading remains positive. Annualized monthly-return variability was 2.6%, which supports moderate confidence in the current index as a snapshot but still argues against over-reading a single month. Separately, the largest historical peak-to-trough drawdown was 2.5%, showing that the series has experienced declines despite its positive multiyear record. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 1,422 for momentum, 965 for stability, and 1,091 for the balanced measure; lower ranks are higher in that ordering. These are descriptive history measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation through June 2026 describes for-sale activity, not rental transactions. Median sold price was $639,855, up 4.3% year over year, with 124 homes sold and a median marketing time of 8 days. Inventory was 72 homes and months of supply was 1.8. The average sale-to-list ratio reached 102.1%, and 43.0% of sales closed above list price. Those resale-liquidity signals appear firm alongside rising sale prices and limited supply. That creates a useful tension with rent evidence: resale conditions look brisk while current asking-rent growth has slowed from its longer-run pace. The resale data confirm active for-sale conditions, but they do not demonstrate stronger rental demand, tenant affordability, or property-level rental economics.
Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the Redfin median sold price produces a 3.86% cross-source screening ratio. It is only a screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. It also combines an asking-rent index with a rolling resale median, so it cannot capture operating costs, financing, taxes, insurance, vacancy for a particular property, or differences between homes sold and rentals represented in the index. Before relying on any ZIP-level screen, verify current comparable asking rents and concessions, the unit’s bedroom count and lease term, treatment of utilities, actual condition, and relevant recent sales evidence for the specific property. Those checks are especially important where the broad resale signal is stronger than the recent rent-growth signal.