How a Section 8 rent number is built
Search for Section 8 rents by state and you get one tidy figure per state. It is a useful screen, but a chain of other numbers sits between that figure and the money that lands in your account each month. Knowing which link binds at your address is most of the work.
| number | who sets it | what it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Fair Market Rent (FMR) | HUD, once a year, per HUD Metro FMR Area | The published baseline, generally pegged near the 40th percentile of local rents |
| Small Area FMR (SAFMR) | HUD, by ZIP code, in designated metros | Replaces one metro-wide figure with a ZIP-level one, up in strong areas and down in weak ones |
| Payment standard | The local public housing authority | The actual subsidy ceiling, commonly set somewhere between 90% and 110% of FMR |
| Rent reasonableness | The local authority, unit by unit | Caps your approved rent at what comparable unassisted units nearby command |
| Utility allowance | The local authority | Shifts part of the ceiling to utilities whenever the tenant pays them directly |
The sequence matters. FMR or SAFMR feeds the payment standard, the payment standard sets the ceiling, and rent reasonableness can pull your approved rent under it. Each term is defined in the investor glossary, and every figure should be confirmed with the housing authority that will hold the contract.
FMR by state · 2026
| state | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $830 | $1,010 | $1,280 | $1,430 |
| Florida | $1,590 | $1,860 | $2,420 | $2,860 |
| Georgia | $1,035 | $1,195 | $1,540 | $1,800 |
| Ohio | $870 | $1,090 | $1,390 | $1,570 |
| Texas | $1,010 | $1,240 | $1,630 | $1,920 |
| Michigan | $920 | $1,150 | $1,460 | $1,630 |
| Pennsylvania | $1,020 | $1,250 | $1,610 | $1,750 |
| Indiana | $880 | $1,100 | $1,380 | $1,560 |
| Tennessee | $930 | $1,120 | $1,460 | $1,630 |
| North Carolina | $1,040 | $1,210 | $1,590 | $1,930 |
| Missouri | $800 | $990 | $1,280 | $1,500 |
| Illinois | $840 | $1,060 | $1,370 | $1,550 |
| Virginia | $1,050 | $1,260 | $1,670 | $2,010 |
| Arizona | $1,330 | $1,630 | $2,150 | $2,410 |
| South Carolina | $1,060 | $1,180 | $1,490 | $1,770 |
FMRs above are median state-wide figures. Actual FMR is set by HUD per HUD Metropolitan FMR Area (HMFA), often county- or ZIP-level — pull HUD's tool for your exact zip.
Want all 50 states + DC? The full FY2026 breakdown — median rent by bedroom, top metros, ZIP-level ranges, and the DSCR math on voucher income for every state — sits on the state-by-state hub linked under Go deeper below.
Five steps to your exact number
- Start with the state median. Use the table above to decide whether a market is even worth a second look for the bedroom count you buy.
- Drop to the ZIP. Look up the FMR or SAFMR for the property's ZIP code. Inside one state, the gap between the cheapest and richest ZIP is usually wide enough that the median describes neither.
- Ask the authority for the payment standard. This is the number that binds. Authorities publish it by bedroom size and update it periodically, so use the current one rather than last year's.
- Subtract the utility allowance. If the tenant pays electric, gas, or water, the allowance comes out of what you can collect as contract rent.
- Pull unassisted comps. Rent reasonableness is checked against nearby market rentals, so a rent that clears the cap can still be rejected. Comps and ARV pulls run inside Verleon AI on every active listing.
Why Section 8 wins for landlords
- Dependable rent. The authority pays its share straight to you each month under the HAP contract, independent of the tenant's payroll.
- Longer tenancies. Voucher households tend to stay put, and turnover is where single-family returns quietly leak.
- Above-market rents in some metros. FMRs can exceed private market rent in deeper rural markets.
- Stable demand. Waitlists in most affordable metros stay long, and units that accept vouchers rarely sit empty for long.
- Scheduled inspections. The required HQS or NSPIRE pass puts the unit on a maintenance cadence most rentals never get.
- Cleaner lender conversations. A contract rent backed by a housing authority reads as durable income when a DSCR lender sizes the loan.
The DSCR math on voucher rent
A DSCR lender sizes the loan off the rent the property actually collects, so the input is approved contract rent, not the state median you screened with.
DSCR = approved contract rent ÷ monthly PITIA
Work an illustrative two-bedroom house in a cash-flow market at a $135,000 purchase price. Put 25% down and you finance $101,250. At around 7%, which varies by lender and credit profile, principal and interest run roughly $675 a month. Add about $305 for taxes and insurance and the full PITIA lands near $980.
Against a $1,320 two-bedroom FMR that is a 1.35DSCR, comfortably inside what most DSCR lenders want to see. Now apply the real chain. Suppose the authority's payment standard sits at 100% of FMR and the tenant pays their own electric, carrying a utility allowance of roughly $80. Contract rent drops to about $1,240 and DSCR falls to about 1.27 — still bankable, but roughly 0.08 below the headline figure you would have underwritten from the state table alone.
Run the same house in a Small Area FMR ZIP where the cap sits higher and it improves; run it in a weaker ZIP inside the same metro and it gets worse. That spread, not the statewide median, decides the deal. Every figure here is illustrative and rounded — put your own through the DSCR calculator before you make an offer.
When the state number does not work
- High-cost metros. Where private market rent runs above FMR, accepting a voucher can mean accepting less rent than a conventional tenant would pay.
- SAFMR splits. In ZIP-level metros a statewide median can be badly wrong in both directions on the same street grid.
- Units that will not pass inspection. No payment flows until the unit clears its HQS or NSPIRE inspection, so a property carrying deferred maintenance does not earn FMR on day one.
- Rent reasonableness ceilings. A generous payment standard in a soft submarket is meaningless if unassisted comps nearby rent for far less.
- Program capacity. Waitlists in some jurisdictions are closed and processing timelines vary, so a voucher tenant is not always available the week your unit is ready.
- Legal exposure. Source-of-income rules, lease addenda, and eviction procedure all vary by state — consult a qualified professional for your jurisdiction.
Mistakes that cost landlords money
- Underwriting the statewide median. It is a screen for market selection, never an input for a specific address.
- Forgetting the utility allowance. Skipping it quietly overstates contract rent and every ratio built on it.
- Confusing FMR with the payment standard. The authority's standard is what gets paid; FMR is only the input.
- Budgeting zero rehab for inspection items. Handrails, GFCI outlets, and peeling paint are cheap individually and fatal to a closing timeline collectively.
- Treating voucher income as risk-free. The authority's share is dependable; the tenant's share still needs the same screening discipline as any other applicant.
Known landlord-friendly Section 8 markets
- Memphis, TN — high voucher density, low entry price.
- Birmingham & Huntsville, AL — high acceptance, growing demand.
- Indianapolis, IN — landlord-friendly state, strong S8 program.
- Cleveland, Dayton & Columbus, OH — affordable, deep demand.
- St. Louis & KC, MO — high cash-flow / low entry.
- Detroit, MI — deep S8 pool, high yield.
Go deeper
- Section 8 Fair Market Rents by state — all 50 states plus DC: median rent by bedroom, top metros, ZIP-level 3-bedroom ranges, and the DSCR math per state.
- Section 8 rent lookup by ZIP code — skip the median entirely and pull the FMR and SAFMR for one specific ZIP.
- Section 8 Rent Report 2026 — the underlying dataset and what moved across all 50 states this fiscal year.
- Section 8 investing: predictable rent from HUD — the narrative companion to this reference: how the program actually feels to run, start to finish.
- How much do Section 8 landlords actually make? — the income math after real operating costs, per door.
- Section 8 inspection checklist — what an inspector looks for before the first payment ever clears.
FAQ
What are Section 8 rents by state for 2026?
Section 8 rent is capped by HUD’s FY2026 Fair Market Rent for the area, and the statewide medians for fifteen of the markets investors ask about most are in the table on this page, taken straight from the HUD FY2026 dataset. Those statewide figures are medians, not a quote for any specific address — HUD publishes FMR by metro area, and by ZIP code in many metros, so pull the number for your ZIP before you underwrite.
Is the state fair market rent the rent I can actually charge?
No. The FMR feeds the payment standard your local housing authority sets, commonly somewhere between 90% and 110% of FMR, and that payment standard is the real ceiling. The authority then applies rent reasonableness, comparing your unit to similar unassisted rentals nearby, which can approve you below that ceiling. Treat the state number as a screening figure, not a quote.
Can I charge more than fair market rent on a voucher unit?
Sometimes. In areas that use Small Area Fair Market Rents, a stronger ZIP code carries a higher cap than the metro-wide figure, and many authorities set payment standards above 100% of FMR. What you cannot do is exceed rent reasonableness: if comparable unassisted units nearby rent for less, the authority will not approve the higher figure no matter what the published cap says.
Who actually pays the rent, HUD or the tenant?
Both. The housing authority pays its share directly to you each month under the Housing Assistance Payments contract, and the tenant pays the remainder, typically calculated at roughly 30% of adjusted household income. The authority’s portion is the dependable half; the tenant’s portion still needs the same screening and collection discipline as any other rental.
Do I have to accept a Housing Choice Voucher?
That depends entirely on where the property sits. A growing number of states, counties, and cities have source-of-income protections that make refusing a voucher unlawful, while other jurisdictions leave participation optional. These rules vary by state and change often, so check the current law where you own and consult a qualified professional before you set a policy.