Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are used to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program (Mod Rehab), rent ceilings for rental units in both the HOME Investment Partnerships program and the Emergency Solution Grants program, calculation of maximum award amounts for Continuum of Care recipients and the maximum amount of rent a recipient may pay for property leased with Continuum of Care funds, and calculation of flat rents in Public Housing units. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually estimates FMRs for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defined metropolitan areas, some HUD defined subdivisions of OMB metropolitan areas and each nonmetropolitan county. 42 USC 1437f requires FMRs be posted at least 30 days before they are effective and that they are effective at the start of the federal fiscal year (generally October 1).

Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are FMRs calculated for ZIP Codes. 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 or non-metropolitan counties 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.

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.

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

This dataset consists of the small area fair market rents (FMRs) published annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Small areas correspond to zip codes. The FMRs in this dataset are confined to the Atlanta metro area and include FMRs for the most recent year, the previous year and four years ago along with the percent change between those years. Small Area FMRs are required to be used to set Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards in areas designated by HUD. Additional information can be found at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/smallarea/index.html.

HUD’s Multifamily Housing property portfolio consist primarily of rental housing properties with five or more dwelling units such as apartments or town houses, but can also include nursing homes, hospitals, elderly housing, mobile home parks, retirement service centers, and occasionally vacant land. HUD provides subsidies and grants to property owners and developers in an effort to promote the development and preservation of affordable rental units for low-income populations, and those with special needs such as the elderly, and disabled. The portfolio can be broken down into two basic categories: insured, and assisted. The three largest assistance programs for Multifamily Housing are Section 8 Project Based Assistance, Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly, and Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities. The Multifamily property locations represent the approximate location of the property. The locations of individual buildings associated with each property are not depicted here. Location data for HUD-related properties and facilities are derived from HUD's enterprise geocoding service. While not all addresses are able to be geocoded and mapped to 100% accuracy, we are continuously working to improve address data quality and enhance coverage. Please consider this issue when using any datasets provided by HUD. When using this data, take note of the field titled “LVL2KX” which indicates the overall accuracy of the geocoded address using the following return codes: ‘R’ - Interpolated rooftop (high degree of accuracy, symbolized as green) ‘4’ - ZIP+4 centroid (high degree of accuracy, symbolized as green) ‘B’ - Block group centroid (medium degree of accuracy, symbolized as yellow) ‘T’ - Census tract centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘2’ - ZIP+2 centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘Z’ - ZIP5 centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘5’ - ZIP5 centroid (same as above, low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) Null - Could not be geocoded (does not appear on the map) For the purposes of displaying the location of an address on a map only use addresses and their associated lat/long coordinates where the LVL2KX field is coded ‘R’ or ‘4’. These codes ensure that the address is displayed on the correct street segment and in the correct census block. The remaining LVL2KX codes provide a cascading indication of the most granular level geography for which an address can be confirmed. For example, if an address cannot be accurately interpolated to a rooftop (‘R’), or ZIP+4 centroid (‘4’), then the address will be mapped to the centroid of the next nearest confirmed geography: block group, tract, and so on. When performing any point-in polygon analysis it is important to note that points mapped to the centroids of larger geographies will be less likely to map accurately to the smaller geographies of the same area. For instance, a point coded as ‘5’ in the correct ZIP Code will be less likely to map to the correct block group or census tract for that address. In an effort to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), the characteristics for each building are suppressed with a -4 value when the “Number_Reported” is equal to, or less than 10. To learn more about Multifamily Housing visit: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov.Data Dictionary: DD_HUD Assisted Multifamily Properties Date of Coverage: 12/2023

This dataset and map service provides information on the U.S. Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) low to moderate income areas. The term Low to Moderate Income, often referred to as low-mod, has a specific programmatic context within the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Over a 1, 2, or 3-year period, as selected by the grantee, not less than 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used for activities that benefit low- and moderate-income persons. HUD uses special tabulations of Census data to determine areas where at least 51% of households have incomes at or below 80% of the area median income (AMI). This dataset and map service contains the following layer.

First launched by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Transportation (DOT) in November 2013, the Location Affordability Index (LAI) provides ubiquitous, standardized household housing and transportation cost estimates for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Because what is affordable is different for everyone, users can choose among eight household profiles—which vary by household income, size, and number of commuters—and see the impact of the built environment on affordability in a given location while holding household demographics constant.

Version 3 updates the constituent data sets with 2012-2016 American Community Survey data and makes several methodological tweaks, most notably moving to modeling at the Census tract level rather at the block group. As with Version 2, the inputs to the simultaneous equation model (SEM) include six endogenous variables—housing costs, car ownership, and transit usage for both owners and renters—and 18 exogenous variables, with vehicle miles traveled still modeled separately due to data limitations.To learn more about the Location Affordability Index (v.3) visit: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/location-affordability-index/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Date of Coverage: 2012-2016 Data Dictionary: DD_Location Affordability Indev v.3.0LAI Version 3 Data and MethodologyLAI Version 3 Technical Documentation

California State Income Limits reflect updated median income and household income levels for acutely low-, extremely low-, very low-, low- and moderate-income households for California’s 58 counties (required by Health and Safety Code Section 50093). These income limits apply to State and local affordable housing programs statutorily linked to HUD income limits and differ from income limits applicable to other specific federal, State, or local programs.

The FHA insured Multifamily Housing portfolio consists primarily of rental housing properties with five or more dwelling units such as apartments or town houses, but can also be nursing homes, hospitals, elderly housing, mobile home parks, retirement service centers, and occasionally vacant land. Please note that this dataset overlaps the Multifamily Properties Assisted layer. The Multifamily property locations represent the approximate location of the property. Location data for HUD-related properties and facilities are derived from HUD's enterprise geocoding service. While not all addresses are able to be geocoded and mapped to 100% accuracy, we are continuously working to improve address data quality and enhance coverage. Please consider this issue when using any datasets provided by HUD. When using this data, take note of the field titled “LVL2KX” which indicates the overall accuracy of the geocoded address using the following return codes: ‘R’ - Interpolated rooftop (high degree of accuracy, symbolized as green) ‘4’ - ZIP+4 centroid (high degree of accuracy, symbolized as green) ‘B’ - Block group centroid (medium degree of accuracy, symbolized as yellow) ‘T’ - Census tract centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘2’ - ZIP+2 centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘Z’ - ZIP5 centroid (low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) ‘5’ - ZIP5 centroid (same as above, low degree of accuracy, symbolized as red) Null - Could not be geocoded (does not appear on the map) For the purposes of displaying the location of an address on a map only use addresses and their associated lat/long coordinates where the LVL2KX field is coded ‘R’ or ‘4’. These codes ensure that the address is displayed on the correct street segment and in the correct census block. The remaining LVL2KX codes provide a cascading indication of the most granular level geography for which an address can be confirmed. For example, if an address cannot be accurately interpolated to a rooftop (‘R’), or ZIP+4 centroid (‘4’), then the address will be mapped to the centroid of the next nearest confirmed geography: block group, tract, and so on. When performing any point-in polygon analysis it is important to note that points mapped to the centroids of larger geographies will be less likely to map accurately to the smaller geographies of the same area. For instance, a point coded as ‘5’ in the correct ZIP Code will be less likely to map to the correct block group or census tract for that address. In an effort to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), the characteristics for each building are suppressed with a -4 value when the “Number_Reported” is equal to, or less than 10. To learn more about HUD Insured Multifamily Properties visit: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh Data Dictionary: DD_HUD Insured Multifamilly Properties Date of Coverage: 02/2025

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program requires that each CDBG funded activity must either principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or meet a community development need having a particular urgency because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community and other financial resources are not available to meet that need. With respect to activities that principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons, at least 51 percent of the activity's beneficiaries must be low and moderate income. For CDBG, a person is considered to be of low income only if he or she is a member of a household whose income would qualify as "very low income" under the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments program. Generally, these Section 8 limits are based on 50% of area median. Similarly, CDBG moderate income relies on Section 8 "lower income" limits, which are generally tied to 80% of area median. These data are derived from the 2011-2015 American Community Survey (ACS) and based on Census 2010 geography.

To learn more about the Low to Moderate Income Populations visit: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/acs-low-mod-summary-data/, for questions about the spatial attribution of this dataset, please reach out to us at GISHelpdesk@hud.gov. Data Dictionary: DD_Low to Moderate Income Populations by Tract