How RehabRange Ranks Rental Markets
Last updated April 2026
Every number on these pages comes from a named public source with a stated vintage — no editorial guesses, no "experts say." This page documents the sources, the formulas, and the screens so you can check our work.
Data sources
| Metric | Source | Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| Home values | Zillow Research — ZHVI (Zillow Home Value Index) | Monthly |
| Rents | Zillow Research — ZORI (Zillow Observed Rent Index), all bedrooms | Monthly |
| Population & income | U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 1-Year (states) / 5-Year (cities) | Annually |
| Unemployment | Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) | Monthly |
| Building permits | Census Building Permits Survey (BPS) | Annually |
| Crime | FBI Crime Data Explorer | Annually |
| Disasters | FEMA declared-disaster database (cumulative since 1953) | Monthly |
| Tax rates | Tax Foundation — top marginal income tax, effective property tax | Annually |
| Landlord law | Our composite of state landlord-tenant statutes (see below) | Annually |
The formulas
Rent-to-price ratio= (median monthly rent × 12) ÷ median home value. It approximates gross yield before expenses and is the primary cash-flow screen on these pages. The related "1% rule" asks whether one month's rent is ≥ 1% of the purchase price.
Landlord-friendliness score (0–100) is our composite of four statute dimensions per state: rent control status, typical eviction timeline, security-deposit caps, and required notice periods. It describes legal posture, not market quality.
Percentile comparisons("71st percentile nationally") rank a value against all 50 states or all screened cities at the same cutoff.
Which cities make the cut
A city appears on these pages only if it has a current Zillow home value and rent index, plus Census population of at least 10,000 (25,000 for national rankings). That screen keeps out places where medians are too thin to trust. We track 18,000+ U.S. places; roughly 3,000 clear the bar today.
What these rankings are not
A ranking is a screen, not underwriting. Rent-to-price says nothing about property taxes, insurance, vacancy, or the renovation the specific house needs — the line items that decide whether a deal actually cash-flows. That last number, the rehab budget, is the one RehabRange exists to produce.
About this data: compiled by RehabRange from Zillow Research (ZHVI home values, ZORI rents), U.S. Census Bureau (ACS population and income, Building Permits Survey), Bureau of Labor Statistics (unemployment), FBI Crime Data Explorer, FEMA, and Tax Foundation. Last updated April 2026.
RehabRange is built by Mitchell Haughton, a practicing eastern-Connecticut real estate investor — the same screens he runs before walking a property. How we rank markets