Rent Affordability Index

Rent affordability in ZIP 21797 (Maryland)

Rent affordability in ZIP 21797 (Maryland) works out like this: households earn a median $179,271 while annual rent runs $12,144 — 14.76 times rent. That ranks the ZIP code at the 100.0th percentile, meaning rent takes a smaller share of local income than in 100% of the ZIP codes we score. The index covers rent only, not food, transport or healthcare.

SqueezedComfortable
100.0
Excellent
ZIP 21797 rent affordability percentile

Higher is better: income goes further after rent.

Median household income

$179,271

Annual rent

$12,144

Income to rent ratio

14.76×

National percentile

100.0

Rent share of income

7%

Maryland

Best-value ZIP codes in Maryland

  1. 1
    2179714.76× rent100.0
  2. 2
    2101311.83× rent99.8
  3. 3
    2063611.50× rent99.8
  4. 4
    206399.91× rent99.1
  5. 5
    211469.60× rent98.8
  6. 6
    217559.49× rent98.7
  7. 7
    207369.10× rent98.3
  8. 8
    210488.80× rent97.6
  9. 9
    210848.64× rent97.2
  10. 10
    206788.29× rent96.2

Reading the numbers for 21797

The classic rule of thumb keeps rent under 30% of gross income. Here that threshold sits at $40,480 of household income; anything below it means rent is taking more than a comfortable share.

Income and rent both come from the same American Community Survey 5-year release, so they are already expressed in the same dollars and we apply no inflation adjustment on top. The percentile is computed across every ZIP code with at least 5,000 residents.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (ZCTA median gross rent and median household income). Latest observation 2026-09-01.

Full profile for ZIP 21797 · See the national index

Run your own rent-versus-buy numbers