This feature service outlines relationships between Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) used to denote Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) and the Fair Market Rents (FMRs) calculated for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and County geographies. Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are FMRs calculated for ZIP Codes within Metropolitan Areas. Small Area FMRs are required to be used to set Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards in areas designated by HUD (available here). Other Housing Agencies operating in non-designated metropolitan areas may opt-in to the use of Small Area FMRs. Furthermore, Small Area FMRs may be used as the basis for setting Exception Payment Standards – PHAs may set exception payment standards up to 110 percent of the Small Area FMR. PHAs administering Public Housing units may use Small Area FMRs as an alternative to metropolitan area-wide FMRs when calculating Flat Rents.

Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are FMRs calculated for ZIP Codes within Metropolitan Areas. Small Area FMRs are required to be used to set Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards in areas designated by HUD (available here). Other Housing Agencies operating in non-designated metropolitan areas may opt-in to the use of Small Area FMRs. Furthermore, Small Area FMRs may be used as the basis for setting Exception Payment Standards – PHAs may set exception payment standards up to 110 percent of the Small Area FMR. PHAs administering Public Housing units may use Small Area FMRs as an alternative to metropolitan area-wide FMRs when calculating Flat Rents. Please See HUD’s Small Area FMR Final Rule for additional information regarding the uses of Small Area FMRs.Note that this service does not denote precise SAFMR geographies. Instead, the service utilizes a relationship class to associate the information for each SAFMR with the FMR areas that its ZCTA overlaps. For example, ZCTA 94558 overlaps the Santa Rosa, Napa, and Vallejo-Fairfield MSAs. Selecting that ZCTA will reveal the SAFMR information associated with each FMR area.

  To learn more about the Small Area Fair Market Rents visit: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/smallarea/index.html, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Date of Coverage: Fiscal Year 2025Date Update: 01/2025

Small Area Fair Market Rent Demonstration Evaluation Datahttps://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/SAFMR-demonstration-evaluation-data.html

This layer includes the polygon boundaries Payment Standards based on the 2025 HUD Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) amounts for all zipcodes in Metro HRA's Housing Choice Voucher program service area. Detailed information and background documentation regarding SAFMRs can be found at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/smallarea/

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Qualified Census Tracts must have 50 percent of households with incomes below 60 percent of the Area Median Gross Income (AMGI) or have a poverty rate of 25 percent or more. Difficult Development Areas (DDA) are designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and are based on Fair Market Rents, income limits, the 2010 census counts, and 2006–10 5-year American Community Survey data when they becomes available. Beginning with the 2016 DDA designations, metropolitan DDAs will use Small Area Fair Market Rents (FMRs) rather than metropolitan-area FMRs for designating metropolitan DDAs. Maps of Qualified Census Tracts and Difficult Development Areas are available at: huduser.gov/sadda/sadda_qct.html.

2023 IRS SECTION 42(d)(5)(B) METROPOLITAN DIFFICULT DEVELOPMENT AREAS (OMB Metropolitan Area Definitions, September 14, 2018 [MSA] and derived FY2022 HUD Metro SAFMR Area Definitions [HMFA])