Median gross rent, explained

What it measures

Median gross rent is the dollar amount that exactly half of renter-occupied units in a place pay more than, and half pay less than, per month, including utilities. "Gross" rent is the contract rent paid to the landlord plus the estimated monthly cost of utilities and fuels (electricity, gas, water and sewer, oil, coal, wood) if those are paid by the tenant. If utilities are included in the contract rent, only the contract rent is reported. The figure captures everything the tenant actually pays out each month to live in their home.

The Census publishes median gross rent for the same geographies as median home value, through ACS Table B25064. It covers all renter-occupied units regardless of who owns them or what type of building they're in, single-family rentals, apartments in small buildings, large complexes, mobile homes, and even sub-let single rooms.

Why it matters

Median gross rent is the standard rental-market benchmark used by HUD, state housing-finance agencies, and city housing departments. HUD's Fair Market Rent (FMR) program, which sets payment standards for Section 8 housing vouchers, uses median gross rent (or a close variant) as a primary input. Renters use the figure to evaluate whether a quoted rent is above or below local market. Landlords and property managers use it to set rent in competitive markets. Affordability advocates use it alongside median income to track the rent-burden problem nationally and locally.

How the Census measures it

ACS Table B25064. The Census asks renters two questions: their monthly contract rent and, separately, whether utilities are included. If utilities are not included, the survey records the average monthly amount paid for each utility type and sums them into a "gross rent" total. The published median uses interpolation across rent brackets. The 5-year ACS smooths month-to-month volatility but lags rapid market changes, pandemic-era rent spikes in 2021-2022 didn't fully show up in 5-year ACS figures until 2024.

How to read the numbers

The US median gross rent is about $1,400. State medians range from about $850 (West Virginia, Arkansas) to over $2,200 (Hawaii, California). Metro medians range from sub-$900 (small metros in Mississippi, Alabama, and rural Ohio) to above $2,500 (San Francisco, Honolulu, San Jose, Boston). A common affordability benchmark is that gross rent should not exceed 30% of household income; the share of renter households that exceed that threshold (the rent-burdened share) is reported separately. A median gross rent above 35% of median income indicates a market under severe affordability stress.

Caveats and limitations

The 5-year average masks recent changes, in 2024 ACS data, the median reflects rents paid from mid-2019 through mid-2024, which averages out the post-pandemic rent surge and the 2023-2024 cooling. For current asking-rent intelligence, use a private data source (RentDataNow, Apartment List, Zillow). The ACS also includes long-term tenants paying below-market rent (rent control, tenured leases), which pulls the published median down relative to what a new tenant would pay today.