What gross rent means in Census housing data
Gross rent combines contract rent with the estimated average monthly cost of utilities and fuels paid separately by the renter, or for the renter by someone else. The Census Bureau includes electricity, gas, water and sewer, and fuels. This puts rentals with different utility-billing arrangements on a more comparable basis.
It is not the same as the rent check alone. When comparing homes or areas, check whether utilities are included before treating their quoted rents as comparable.
How it is used here
The rent-burden study uses ACS B25070 for the share of renter households whose gross rent is at least 30% of household income, excluding the table's not-computed category. The separate median gross rent measure is a rent level, not a count of burdened households.
Read the Census definition of gross rent and the rent-burden study.
These are ACS 2020-2024 five-year survey estimates, not current prices or listings. A ZCTA is not a USPS delivery ZIP and can cross county lines. The selected ZCTAs are assigned by largest land-area share; their grouped figures are not complete countywide estimates. Small bases and sampling error can make close comparisons misleading.
See the 132-ZCTA selection method, estimate limits and downloadable datasets.