State rental market analysis · DC
District of Columbia rental markets
1 tracked cities over 5,000 population, 1 ranked and summarized by their median Overall; 0 of 1 evaluable cities pass the modeled Buy & Hold screen. Every number traces to Census, Zillow and BLS. Compare state coverage and results →
Browse every District of Columbia ZIP Code area → · the full server-rendered index for this state.
Part of the South Atlantic Census division (South region).
The honest read
District of Columbia has a median Overall of 34.4/100 across its ranked cities, but it is not assigned a headline state rank: 1 cities across 1 county contexts are evaluable for the Buy & Hold screen, below the published minimum of 20 cities and 10 county contexts. 1 ranked cities roll up into this grade. Its strongest factor is job growth: 0.6%, 27th of 51.
The biggest drag is rent growth: 1.9%, 51st of 51. A state grade is the median of its ranked cities, a screen for where to look, not underwriting. Open any city below for its full shown-math breakdown, or run a specific deal through the cap rate and cash-flow calculators.
Where it ranks, factor by factor
Every value is the median across the 1 ranked cities in this state. The national rank compares all 51 states on that one factor; the engine already flips inverted factors (affordability, low unemployment) so a better rank always means a better market. Each factor sits in one of the model’s three categories (Cash Flow, Growth, or Stability); this is a representative summary, and the full thirteen-factor breakdown is on each city’s page. Full methodology.
| Factor | Category | State value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 5.3% | #37 of 51 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 1.9% | #51 of 51 |
| Home value growth | Growth | -0.7% | #51 of 51 |
| Population growth | Growth | 0.5% | #30 of 51 |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.6% | #27 of 51 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.2× | #30 of 51 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 6.3% | #51 of 51 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 58% renters · 6.9% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 4.9% | #28 of 51 |
Every city in District of Columbia, ranked
Led by Washington at 34/100. Click any column to re-sort; every city links to its full shown-math breakdown.
| DC rank | City | Grade | Cash Flow | Growth | Stability | Typical home value | Gross yield | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | 34 | D | C | D | $570,082 | 5.3% | #3998 |
Data as of: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI through the latest monthly release · Census ACS 5-yr 2020–2024 · Census PEP July 2025 · BLS LAUS county 2025 annual (11-month average). Generated 2026-10-06. Methodology & limitations · underwrite any specific deal with the free calculators.
ZIP markets in District of Columbia
57 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) in District of Columbia · 22 data-eligible for subscores. These are sub-city government areas ranked separately from the District of Columbia city table. The overall Rental Investor ZIP Score leaderboard leads; the two component subscores (affordability, rental-market context) follow as independent percentiles. ZIP ranks are shown within the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, city ranks. Vintage: the Key metric column is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), the same release the city table above uses; the geographies differ, so the same measure can still disagree between the two.
Best overall ZIP Codes in District of Columbia
Ranked by the overall Rental Investor ZIP Score. The # is each ZIP Code's canonical DC state rank; the smaller figure is its national rank. Separate from the District of Columbia city table and not directly comparable to it.
| DC rank | ZIP Code | Overallgrade · national | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 20003Washington | B 61#3,118 nat | 3.4%Survey yield |
| #2 | 20001Washington | B 59#4,175 nat | 3.5%Survey yield |
| #3 | 20009Washington | B 56#5,463 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| #4 | 20002Washington | B 56#5,662 nat | 3.2%Survey yield |
| #5 | 20024Washington | C 55#6,085 nat | 4.9%Survey yield |
| #6 | 20019Washington | C 53#7,227 nat | 3.2%Survey yield |
| #7 | 20020Washington | C 52#7,649 nat | 3.4%Survey yield |
| #8 | 20004Washington | C 52#7,750 nat | 5.2%Survey yield |
| #9 | 20011Washington | C 51#8,070 nat | 2.7%Survey yield |
| #10 | 20010Washington | C 51#8,230 nat | 2.4%Survey yield |
| #11 | 20032Washington | C 50#8,786 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| #12 | 20005Washington | C 49#9,159 nat | 4.3%Survey yield |
Top affordability ZIP Codes in District of Columbia
State-scoped leaders on the affordability subscore only (national rank shown is within that subscore’s data-eligible universe). Substantially an inverse housing-cost signal: a component of the overall score, not a predicted return.
| # | ZIP Code | Affordability | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20006Washington | 84#866 nat | 9.2%Survey yield |
| 2 | 20036Washington | 71#2,688 nat | 6.0%Survey yield |
| 3 | 20024Washington | 62#5,097 nat | 4.9%Survey yield |
| 4 | 20004Washington | 59#6,117 nat | 5.2%Survey yield |
| 5 | 20037Washington | 55#7,562 nat | 4.4%Survey yield |
| 6 | 20020Washington | 52#8,436 nat | 3.4%Survey yield |
| 7 | 20032Washington | 52#8,616 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| 8 | 20019Washington | 52#8,771 nat | 3.2%Survey yield |
| 9 | 20005Washington | 50#9,358 nat | 4.3%Survey yield |
| 10 | 20017Washington | 47#10,889 nat | 3.1%Survey yield |
| 11 | 20009Washington | 46#11,178 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| 12 | 20011Washington | 45#11,787 nat | 2.7%Survey yield |
Deepest rental-market ZIP Codes in District of Columbia
State-scoped leaders on the rental-market-context subscore only (national rank shown is within that subscore’s data-eligible universe). Rental depth/tightness: a separate component, never combined here with affordability.
| # | ZIP Code | Rental market | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20008Washington | 80#271 nat | 2.7%Survey yield |
| 2 | 20019Washington | 75#916 nat | 3.2%Survey yield |
| 3 | 20032Washington | 69#2,328 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| 4 | 20020Washington | 65#3,565 nat | 3.4%Survey yield |
| 5 | 20018Washington | 65#3,630 nat | 2.2%Survey yield |
| 6 | 20009Washington | 64#3,997 nat | 3.9%Survey yield |
| 7 | 20017Washington | 62#4,482 nat | 3.1%Survey yield |
| 8 | 20002Washington | 60#5,542 nat | 3.2%Survey yield |
| 9 | 20001Washington | 59#5,611 nat | 3.5%Survey yield |
| 10 | 20011Washington | 59#5,736 nat | 2.7%Survey yield |
| 11 | 20005Washington | 58#6,072 nat | 4.3%Survey yield |
| 12 | 20010Washington | 58#6,365 nat | 2.4%Survey yield |