More Info on Rent Measures
Why ACS contract rent is often lower than asking rents from real estate listing services
ACS reported rents are often lower than rents reported on real estate listing services like Zillow. Several factors explain this difference.
First, current tenants typically pay less than units currently on the market. Real estate listing services mostly capture asking rents for available units, not what existing tenants are already paying.
Second, the ACS rent question is specific to what the respondent’s household actually pays. If someone shares a unit with a roommate, they report only their share of the rent rather than the full rent for the unit. Similarly, households receiving rental assistance report only the portion of the rent they pay themselves, not the share paid by the government.