HUD Fair Market Rents

Description:

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for each fiscal year. FMR is used primarily to determine payment standard amounts for Federal housing assistance programs. FMR is a gross rent estimate and includes the shelter rent, plus the cost of all tenant-paid utilities, except telephones, cable or satellite television service, and internet service. The levels at which FMR is set is expressed as a percentile point within the rent distribution of standard-quality rental housing units. The most recent FMR reflects the estimated 40th and 50th percentile rent levels, meaning that 40% or 50% of rental units can be rented at or below this threshold. To calculate FMRs, HUD uses the U.S. Ceneus Bureau’s most recent 5-year ACS data as “base rents” for calculations. For more information on the methodology used by HUD, please see: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html

Small Area FMRs (SAFMRs) are FMRs calcualted at the Zip Code level. HUD calculates SAFMR using standard quality gross rent data provided by the Census Bureau for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) when ZCTA data is statistically reliable. When ZCTA data is not reliable, HUD uses the Rent Ratio method; a calculation method where HUD divides the median gross rent across all bedrooms for the ZCTA by the similar median gross rent for the metropolitan area of the ZCTA. If the all bedroom level data is not reliable, HUD may use neighboring ZCTA data to calculate this data. For more information on this methodology, please see: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/smallarea/index.html#year2026 Prior to FY2025, HUD only published SAFMR data for metro area zip codes. Therefore, zip codes in non-metro areas prior to 2025 have been published with the “Insufficient Data” label. From 2025 on, data is available for both metro and non-metro area zip codes.