Going from a studio to a one-bedroom adds a median $64 a month to HUD’s FY 2027 benchmark. Going from one bedroom to two adds $240. We counted every step, and what it means if you’re choosing a size or splitting with roommates.
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.