U.S. Rental Market by the Numbers: Official Data for Q3 2026

The national rental vacancy rate was 7.3 percent in the second quarter of 2026, up from 7.0 percent a year earlier, a change the Census Bureau says is not statistically significant.¹ The Consumer Price Index for rent of primary residence rose 2.7 percent in the 12 months ending August 2026, slower than the 3.4 percent rise in prices overall.² And in 2024, the latest year with American Community Survey data, 21.3 million renter households spent over 30 percent of their income on housing.³

Every figure on this page comes from a federal agency release we opened and read, with the release date and the period it covers. We update this page each quarter as new releases come out. The next scheduled updates are listed in the methodology section at the end.

The numbers at a glance

"A year earlier" means the same quarter or month one year before. Differences shown are simple subtraction, nothing more.

This edition gathers what was published by the end of Q3 2026. Vacancy data for July through September come out October 28, 2026, so the vacancy figures above cover April through June.¹

Vacancy and homeownership (Census Housing Vacancy Survey)

What it measures. The rental vacancy rate is the share of the rental inventory that is vacant and for rent. The denominator is renter-occupied units plus vacant units rented but not yet occupied plus vacant units for rent.¹ The data come from a sample survey, so each rate carries a margin of error. For the national rate of 7.3 percent, the 90 percent confidence interval runs from 7.1 to 7.5 percent.¹

The national number. 7.3 percent in Q2 2026 against 7.0 percent in Q2 2025 is a difference of 0.3 percentage points (7.3 minus 7.0). Census says that change is not statistically significant, and the rate was virtually the same as in Q1 2026 (7.3 percent).¹ Read it as flat, not rising.

By region, Q2 2026 against Q2 2025:¹

The South had the highest rental vacancy rate of any region. The Northeast was the only region where Census found a real year-over-year increase.¹ By location, the rate was 8.0 percent in principal cities, 6.9 percent in suburbs and 5.8 percent outside metro areas, none statistically different from a year earlier.¹

Homeownership. The national homeownership rate was 65.0 percent in Q2 2026, the same as Q2 2025 (65.0 minus 65.0 is zero). By region it was 69.0 percent in the Midwest, 66.9 percent in the South, 61.6 percent in the Northeast and 60.5 percent in the West, with no region statistically different from a year earlier.¹ The age split moved. For householders under 35, the rate fell from 36.4 percent to 35.2 percent (a drop of 1.2 points), and Census says that decline is statistically significant.¹

Asking rents. The median asking rent for vacant for-rent units was $1,531 in Q2 2026, against $1,494 in Q2 2025, a difference of $37 ($1,531 minus $1,494).⁴ This is not what sitting tenants pay, and the regional series swings from quarter to quarter. The Northeast went from $1,668 in Q1 2026 to $1,893 in Q2 2026.⁴ One quarter of regional asking rents is not a trend.

Two cautions. A lapse in federal funding meant no data were collected for October 2025, so Q4 2025 rests on November and December only. And a new survey sample was phased in from April 2025 through July 2026.¹

What it means for managers and agents. A flat national rate hides regional gaps, from 9.5 percent in the South to 5.3 percent in the West. When an owner asks why a unit sat, a regional federal benchmark beats a guess. Falling homeownership under age 35 means more of the youngest households are renting. If you work leads, see the tenant lead-to-lease playbook.

Rent inflation (BLS Consumer Price Index)

The release. The August 2026 CPI came out on September 11, 2026. Over the 12 months, the all items index rose 3.4 percent before seasonal adjustment.¹¹ Within shelter:²

The rent index rose 12.016 points over the year (448.997 minus 436.981). On a monthly, seasonally adjusted basis, BLS reported that owners' equivalent rent and rent each rose 0.2 percent in August.¹¹ The BLS series data show no published value for October 2025 for either rent series.¹²

What the two series are. Rent of primary residence tracks what tenants pay for the places they rent. Owners' equivalent rent estimates what owner-occupied homes would rent for, and it carries a relative importance of 25.918 against 7.735 for rent.² HUD's methodology paper notes that CPI rent reflects the rents of both in-place and newly arriving tenants, and that private rent data often give a timelier signal of what new movers pay.¹³ That is why CPI rent moves slowly.

What it means for managers and agents. CPI rent covers the whole rented stock, not just units on the market, which makes it a fair anchor for renewal talks with owners. In the year to August 2026 it rose more slowly than prices overall (2.7 percent against 3.4 percent).² Check what your lease and state allow before any increase (lease renewal playbook, state rules at /states).

Renter households and cost burden (American Community Survey)

The latest release is two years old, and the next one is late. The most recent ACS 1-year estimates cover calendar 2024 and came out on September 11, 2025.¹⁴ The 2023 and 2024 editions both came out in September.⁵ For the 2025 edition, on August 4, 2026, Census said their release date "is being determined" while it assesses a new Commerce Department disclosure avoidance order.¹⁵

Renter-occupied units. ACS table B25003 counts 46,101,640 renter-occupied housing units in 2024 (margin of error plus or minus 154,221), against 45,646,491 in 2023. That is 455,149 more (46,101,640 minus 45,646,491).³¹⁶

Cost burden. Table B25140 counts renter households by housing costs as a share of income:³¹⁶

We have not tested these differences for statistical significance. Each 2024 count has a published margin of error, for example plus or minus 112,153 for the over-30-percent group.³

The latest cost-burden share Census itself published is for 2023: 49.7 percent of the 42.5 million renter households for whom rent burden is calculated paid more than 30 percent of income on housing. In the same release, Census noted that HUD treats households above 30 percent as cost-burdened and those above 50 percent as severely cost-burdened.⁵ We do not compute a 2024 share here. See the methodology section.

Rent levels. Median gross rent (rent plus utilities) was $1,487 in 2024, up 2.7 percent from an inflation-adjusted $1,448 in 2023.¹⁴ Median contract rent rose 4.1 percent to $1,307, and gross rent as a share of income was 30.9 percent, not statistically different from 2023.¹⁷

What it means for managers and agents. About half of renter households were over the 30 percent line in the last year Census published a share. That is the backdrop for collections and payment plans (delinquency playbook) and for screening policy (/federal).

New supply (Census New Residential Construction)

The release. The August 2026 report came out on September 17, 2026. Census and HUD publish it jointly.⁶ For units in buildings with five units or more, the category most often used to track new apartment supply:⁶

Completions also fell on a year-to-date basis. From January through August, 274,300 units in 5+ unit buildings were completed, against 325,300 in the same months of 2025, a drop of 51,000 (325,300 minus 274,300). Census puts that change at minus 15.7 percent, plus or minus 11.0 percent.⁶ For full years, 2025 completions in this category were 467,700, against 591,700 in 2024, a drop of 124,000.⁶

How to read it. If a confidence interval contains zero, Census says the change is not statistically significant.⁶ The drop in completions clears that bar. The drop in starts does not. Census also cautions that it may take six months to establish a trend in completions, and that the permit figures come from a non-probability sample with no sampling error interval.⁶

What it means for managers and agents. Completions are the new units competing with yours for tenants now. Fewer of them means fewer new buildings offering concessions to fill up. Permits are the earliest signal of supply to come.

HUD Fair Market Rents for FY 2027

What they are. Fair Market Rents are HUD's estimates of the 40th percentile gross rent (rent plus utilities, except telephone) for standard quality units occupied by recent movers in an area, with public housing and substandard units excluded.¹⁸ HUD sets them for metro areas, some HUD-defined subareas, and each nonmetro county, so there is no single national FMR.¹⁹

What they are used for. FMRs set payment standards in the Housing Choice Voucher program, where public housing agencies may set payment standards between 90 and 110 percent of FMR. They also feed rent limits for the HOME and Emergency Solutions Grants programs and other HUD programs.¹³

FY 2027 status. HUD published notice of the FY 2027 FMRs in the Federal Register on September 1, 2026 (91 FR 56156). They took effect October 1, 2026, unless HUD received a valid reevaluation request for a specific area.⁷ The FMRs and documentation are at huduser.gov.¹⁹

The national method, in order:¹³

1. Base rent. Five-year ACS 40th percentile gross rent for two-bedroom units. FY 2027 uses ACS 2024 data. Estimates that fail HUD's reliability tests fall back to multi-year averages or a larger area.
2. Recent mover adjustment. HUD compares one-year recent mover rents to the five-year base so the FMR reflects what new tenants pay, not discounts given to in-place tenants.
3. Inflation to 2025. A gross rent inflation factor blends commercial rent data from private providers (about 55 percent weight) with the CPI rent index (about 45 percent), plus a utility factor.
4. Trend factor. A forecast that carries the rent forward to the fiscal year it applies to.
5. Bedroom ratios. HUD converts the two-bedroom figure to other unit sizes.
6. Floor. No FMR may fall more than 10 percent from the prior year.

What changed for FY 2027. HUD now uses Energy Information Administration data for the utility part of the inflation and trend factors, because BLS stopped publishing local fuels and utilities CPI data.⁷

What it means for managers and agents. If you lease to voucher holders, the local payment standard is set from the FMR. Check your area's FY 2027 figure before pricing those units. In some metros HUD uses Small Area FMRs, set by ZIP code area.⁷

The people doing the work (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

The May 2025 estimates came out on May 15, 2026.²⁰

For managers, 252,840 of the 311,180 jobs were in the real estate industry, and the largest state counts were California (50,040), Texas (45,350) and Florida (30,160).⁸ For agents, the middle half of the wage distribution ran from $40,040 (25th percentile) to $82,020 (75th percentile).¹⁰

The big caveat for agents and brokers. OEWS surveys employers. It does not include the self-employed or owners and partners in unincorporated firms.²⁰ If you work as an independent contractor paid on commission, you are not in these numbers. For the employees who are counted, wages include commissions and production bonuses but exclude overtime and nonproduction bonuses.²⁰

What it means. These are the benchmarks a candidate can look up, and state and metro figures sit on the same BLS pages. For hiring steps, see the staff onboarding playbook.

What to do now

• Put a federal benchmark in owner reports. Show your portfolio vacancy next to the Census regional rate for the same quarter, labeled with the period.
• Use CPI rent as a reference point in renewal talks, not a formula. Check your lease and state law before any increase (lease renewal playbook).
• Check the FY 2027 FMR and your local payment standard before pricing units you expect to rent to voucher holders.
• Watch completions in your metro, not just nationally. Fewer new buildings means less concession pressure at turnover (move-out and turnover playbook).
• Cite 2024 as the latest ACS year until the delayed 2025 release is out.
• Benchmark pay against the OEWS figures for your state, and remember that commission-only contractors are not in them.
• Mark the release calendar in the methodology section below.

Calculators for owner reporting are at /tools.

Methodology and update schedule

Sources. Every figure comes from a federal release or data file listed below, each opened on October 7, 2026. CPI index values were cross-checked against the BLS public data API, and ACS counts were read from the Census summary files for tables B25003 and B25140.

What we calculated. Only year-over-year differences, shown with the subtraction. Percent changes and significance findings come from the agencies. We did not compute a 2024 cost-burden share; the latest share Census published is for 2023.

Statistical significance. HVS, ACS and the construction survey are sample surveys. Their margins of error are at the 90 percent confidence level.¹⁶ When we say a change is or is not significant, that is the agency's finding. Differences we compute ourselves have not been tested.

Why the numbers do not match each other. Each survey measures something different. The HVS counts 46.8 million renter-occupied units in Q2 2026, while the ACS counts 46.1 million for calendar 2024.¹³ CPI rent covers all tenants, while asking rent covers vacant units only. Use each for what it measures.

Update schedule. This page is updated each quarter. Next scheduled releases: CPI for September 2026 on October 14, 2026; New Residential Construction for September on October 20, 2026; HVS for Q3 2026 on October 28, 2026.¹¹⁶¹ The 2025 ACS 1-year release date has not been set.¹⁵ OEWS and FMRs update once a year.