Rent Affordability Index
The index measures one thing, from one dataset: a ZIP code's median household income divided by its median gross rent times twelve. The score is that ratio's percentile among every ZIP code we rank, so a higher score means rent takes a smaller share of a local income. It is not a full cost-of-living measure — food, transport and healthcare are not in it.
Median US ZIP code
19.0%
of median household income goes to median gross rent in the typical scored ZIP code. The federal rent-burden threshold is 30%.
Median income to rent ratio
5.25×
Median across scored ZIP codes — median income divided by annual rent
Median rent share of income
19.0%
Median across scored ZIP codes, computed over every scored row
ZIP codes scored
13,241
Every ZIP code tabulation area with at least 5,000 residents
Updated
2026-09-01
Recomputed monthly from the latest ACS release
ZIP codes where income stretches furthest
Ranked by percentile — median income relative to annualised median gross rent.
- 101741, MA15.92× rent100.0
- 221797, MD14.76× rent100.0
- 315367, PA18.83× rent100.0
- 456572, MN17.04× rent100.0
- 507738, NJ17.88× rent100.0
- 650226, IA16.67× rent100.0
- 701921, MA23.26× rent100.0
- 801450, MA13.29× rent99.9
- 901451, MA12.56× rent99.9
- 1028207, NC12.47× rent99.9
Rent is the ACS median gross rent, annualised. Both figures come from the same ACS 5-year release, so no inflation adjustment is applied.
How the index is built
For every ZIP code we annualise the median gross rent and divide the median household income by it. The score is that ratio's percentile among every ZIP code we rank: a score of 90 means rent takes a smaller share of the local median income than in 90% of ZIP codes. We use a percentile rather than a fixed band so the most affordable ZIP codes stay separable instead of all landing on 100, and the job fails rather than publishes if more than a quarter of ZIP codes land on the floor or the ceiling.
Income and rent come from the same ACS 5-year release and are already in the same dollars, so we apply no CPI adjustment on top — doing so would count inflation twice. We publish no emergency-fund estimate here, because it would require an assumed household expenditure share that no source gives us at ZIP level.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (ZCTA median gross rent and median household income). Latest observation 2026-09-01.
Related: Mortgage Affordability Stress Index · Financial Stress Score