Fair Market Rent Atlas

HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR) is the published rent level used for Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) payment standards. In many metros HUD also releases Small Area FMR (SAFMR), which breaks rent by ZIP instead of one metro-wide number. That ZIP cut is what investors actually want when the same county has very different rent floors a few miles apart.

Investors treat FMR as a rent floor, not a market rent quote. For Section 8 or voucher-friendly buy-and-hold, the published 2-bed or 3-bed FMR is a conservative starting point for income. Street rent can run higher or lower. Taxes, insurance, vacancy, and repairs still sit on your sheet. FMR tells you the floor HUD publishes. It does not tell you whether the ask works.

That is why FMR and MAO belong together. A ZIP can look fine on rent and still fail on price. Run ask vs MAO after you set rent. Use ARV, rehab, and your buy box. If ask sits above MAO, the deal is not a pass just because FMR looks solid.

Browse the ZIP pages below for studio through 4-bed FMR tables, then jump to Wholesale Pulse for metro-level ask vs MAO context. When you have a live address, paste it on DealBeast for ARV, MAO, and ask vs MAO on one screen.