What renting really costs across the United States, counted from official federal data: fair market rents by county and ZIP code, where they rise and fall, and how to tell whether a rent is in line with its area.
One rent figure per metro hides most of the story. In HUD’s FY 2027 ZIP code file, the priciest ZIP in a large metro typically runs 1.85 times the cheapest. We counted the gaps, metro by metro.
We matched HUD’s new FY 2027 Fair Market Rents against last year’s, row by row. The two-bedroom benchmark rose in 3,416 places and fell in 1,338. Here is where, and what the number can and can’t tell a renter.