Methodology and sources

FMRbyZIP republishes HUD’s Fair Market Rents with the context HUD’s spreadsheets leave out: comparisons, year-over-year change and the income each rent needs.

What we publish

• Fair Market Rents (FMRs): HUD’s FY 2027 figures for every county, and for every town in the six New England states, copied unchanged. FY 2027 is HUD’s fiscal year that began October 1, 2026.
• Small Area FMRs: HUD’s ZIP-level figures. HUD’s FY 2027 Small Area FMR file covers ZIP codes in both metro and non-metro areas. HUD requires them for Housing Choice Vouchers in designated metro areas, and other housing authorities may opt in. Where they don’t apply, the area (metro or county) FMR does. We show the base SAFMR, not the 90%–110% payment-standard bands.
• State and U.S. averages: our calculation, the average of county and town FMRs weighted by HUD’s population counts. These are not HUD figures.
• Income needed: our calculation, the rent × 12 ÷ 30%, the common affordability guideline.
• Change: FY 2027 compared with FY 2026 (HUD’s revised FY 2026 file where one was posted).

ZIP codes

For ZIP codes in HUD’s Small Area FMR file we show those figures (several, if a ZIP straddles FMR areas). For other ZIP codes we use the Census Bureau’s 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas to find the county with the largest land overlap and show its FMR. ZIP codes and ZCTAs don’t match perfectly, so check with your housing authority. Connecticut’s 2020 ZCTA file uses the old counties, so some Connecticut ZIP codes outside the Small Area file can’t be matched to a planning region. Puerto Rico and the territories are not covered.

What we keep out of search

County pages with fewer than 5,000 residents, and non-metro counties under 20,000 residents whose figures are the same statewide non-metro value shared by 10 or more counties, are still available but marked noindex, because they add little beyond the state page.

How we build it

A script downloads HUD’s and the Census Bureau’s bulk files (no API), records each file’s date and checksum, and rebuilds every page. Nothing is typed by hand. We rebuild when HUD publishes new or revised FMRs.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD User Fair Market Rents: FY 2027 FMRs (file dated August 26, 2026) and FY 2026 FMRs (file dated April 21, 2026).
• HUD User Small Area Fair Market Rents: FY 2027 SAFMRs (file dated August 31, 2026) and FY 2026 SAFMRs (file dated April 21, 2026).
• ZIP-to-county assignment: Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file (file dated December 9, 2021), largest land-area overlap.

Who we are

FMRbyZIP is a free reference site run by Olsen Industries. We are not HUD or a housing authority, and we don’t sell your information. Questions or corrections: olsenindustries@mail.grokbot.com.