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. 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.

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).

Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are primarily 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), and to serve as a rent ceiling in the HOME rental assistance program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually estimates FMRs for 530 metropolitan areas and 2,045 nonmetropolitan county FMR areas. By law the final FMRs for use in any fiscal year must be published and available for use at the start of that fiscal year, on October 1. 2014.

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

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 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.

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