Rental market · Catonsville, MD · Census-designated place

Catonsville, MD: average rent, home values, and rental yield

South Atlantic · Population 43,368

DatasetCity Market Score, model balanced4,812 of 5,233 tracked U.S. markets rankedgenerated 2026-10-06Latest source releases: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI 2026-08 · Census ACS 5-yr 2024 · Census PEP 2025 · Census BPS 2025 · BLS LAUS 2025 · Redfin 2026-05 · FBI CDE 2025How this is built

Why this market does or does not qualify

No Overall City Market Score rank is published. The standardized Buy & Hold screen cannot produce a complete result for this city.

Insufficient data

Supported strengths
The city does not have enough measured inputs for two supported score strengths.

Measured weakness
No category weakness can be ranked without a complete score.

Missing screen inputs: City Market Score. Primary evidenced risk: No scored factor is available to identify a measured market risk.

Data caveat: no missing input is treated as a zero cost. Bring an actual property’s price, rent, taxes, condition, and insurance quote to the calculator.

Locator map of Catonsville, MD
Locator map · boundaries: U.S. Census cartographic files (public domain) · marker at the city’s coordinates

Why there is no grade

The model refuses to rank a market that is missing one of its core inputs rather than score that input as neutral or fill it in from somewhere else. Here it could not measure the population trend. 12 of the 13 scored factors were measured, and every one of them is shown below with its source and its as-of date.

This is a statement about the data, not about the market. A place with no published rank is not a place we have judged badly.

Market Negotiation Leverage

Some seller leverage (21st percentile among 6,196 cities with Redfin coverage)

Equal-weight composite of three Redfin signals’ national percentiles (days on market 17, months of supply 2.1, sale-to-list 101.6%), direction-adjusted so a higher percentile always means more room for a buyer to negotiate. This is a cross-sectional snapshot against every other tracked city today, not a seasonal or historical baseline for this specific city (no multi-year time series is committed for this data). Not a prediction of what any specific seller will accept. Source: Redfin Data Center. See how this is calculated.

Measured market data

Measured observations for Catonsville, shown as context beside the market score (none of it feeds the score), and the model weights are unchanged. These are different measurements from the Census figures in the factor table: the ACS median value is what owners report in a 5-year survey, while ZHVI is a monthly index of typical value; ACS median gross rent is what sitting tenants pay including utilities, while ZORI indexes asking rent on newly listed units. Neither corrects the other. Monthly series, revised in recent months, observed 2026-07, not live.

22 measured Zillow figurestypical value $425,247 · asking rent $1,705/mo · measured gross yield 4.81% · observed 2026-07Show table
Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI, mid tier)$425,247
ZHVI bottom tier (5th–35th pct)$327,827
ZHVI top tier (65th–95th pct)$583,179
ZHVI, single-family only$429,697
Zillow asking-rent index (ZORI)$1,705/mo
Measured gross yield (ZORI × 12 ÷ ZHVI)4.81%
Market heat index70
Median days to pending6
Share of listings with a price cut20.0%
Median sale-to-list ratio101.7%
For-sale inventory103
New listings60
Median list price$431,667
Median sale price$481,250
Measured 3-yr value growth2.07%/yr
Measured 5-yr value growth2.95%/yr
Measured 3-yr rent growth2.00%/yr
Price–rent divergence (value − rent growth)0.08%/yr
ZHVI, 2-bedroom$303,888
ZHVI, 3-bedroom$392,796
ZHVI, 4-bedroom$511,891
ZHVI, 5-bedroom$610,150

Source: Zillow Economic Research public research data, observation month 2026-07. Zillow is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Compounding Estates.

Typical home value $419,243 Median rent $1,700/mo Population 43,368 Region South Atlantic

Price & rent history

Home value $142,348 → $419,243 (2000-01–2026-08) · Asking rent $1,319 → $1,700 (2021-02–2026-08)

Source: Zillow ZHVI (home value) and ZORI (asking rent) - monthly resolution for the last ~10 years (since 2016-09), quarterly before that. Home value uses the left axis, rent the right; toggle either series, change the range, hover to read any point. Gaps in the source series are left as gaps - never interpolated.

ZIP markets in Catonsville

5 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) officially overlap Catonsville by land area · 4 data-eligible for subscores. Overlap is Census land-area share, not a population or address share. Each ZIP Code's overall Rental Investor ZIP Score, grade and canonical national rank are shown below (the two component signals, affordability and rental market, are separate percentiles). There is no city-scoped ZIP rank: city overlap isn't a ranking universe, so only the national rank is shown. These ZIP rankings sit in the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, Catonsville's city ranking. Vintage: the Key metric column below is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), the same survey release as the figures used above for Catonsville itself; a city and a ZIP Code are different geographies, so the same measure can still show a different number at each level.

5 of 5 overlapping ZIP Code areas, scoredgrade, overall Rental Investor ZIP Score and national rank for each, on a separate model from this page's city scoreShow table
ZIP CodeOverallgrade · natl rankTier · overlapAffordabilitysignal · natl rankRental marketsignal · natl rankKey metric
21250Catonsville — LimitedPrimary — — —
21228Catonsville C 50#8,893 nat RankedPrimary 43#12,477 of 20,132 · bottom 38% 64#3,875 of 20,132 · top 19% 5.0%Survey yield
21229Baltimore F 27#17,683 nat Ranked6.7% overlap 56#6,980 of 20,132 · top 35% 71#1,811 of 20,132 · top 9% 7.7%Survey yield
21227Arbutus C 48#9,773 nat Ranked6.6% overlap 50#9,733 of 20,132 · top 48% 53#8,243 of 20,132 · top 41% 5.9%Survey yield
21043Ellicott City A 65#1,716 nat Ranked3.2% overlap 30#17,524 of 20,132 · bottom 13% 58#6,041 of 20,132 · top 30% 4.0%Survey yield
Open these 5 ZIP markets in the explorer →

Every factor, shown

The Overall score blends three category scores built from thirteen measured factors: Cash Flow (35%), Growth (35%), and Stability (30%). The table shows every factor; the tag on each percentile marks which category a scored factor feeds. Untagged factors are shown for context but not scored. Every percentile also carries the band it falls in - top 10%, top quartile, above or below the national median, bottom quartile, bottom 10% - so a bare ordinal still reads as a position; the band restates that percentile and adds nothing to it. Every value carries its source and as-of date. How the score works.

FactorValueNational percentileSource · as-ofWhat it means
Expense-adjusted yield4.9%-Zillow ZORI/ZHVI · 2026-08-31Annual rent divided by price, net of a modeled vacancy, tax, capex, and management allowance: the core of the Cash Flow category and what the score is actually computed from. The unadjusted gross yield is shown elsewhere on this page.
Price to income3.7x-Zillow + ACS income · 2026-08-31Home price over local median income. Lower is cheaper relative to what people earn. Part of the Cash Flow category.
Population growthnot measured-derivedCensus population trend for the place, capped at 4.5%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate): the heaviest factor in the Growth category.
Job growth-0.3%/yr-BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2019→2025 (pre-COVID anchor; 2025 is an 11-month average) + BLS LAUS county annual 2015→2025County employment trend, capped at 4.0%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate). A Growth-category factor.
Income growth5.0%/yr-Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024Local median-income trend. A Growth-category factor.
Rent growth2.5%/yr-Zillow ZORI · 3yr to 2026-08-31A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year rent trend (the model's own weighting). A Growth-category factor.
Home-value growth2.9%/yr-Zillow ZHVI · 3yr + 10yr to 2026-08-31A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year price trend (the model's own weighting). A small Growth-category factor.
Unemployment4.0%-BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2025 (11-month average)County unemployment rate. Lower is steadier, a Stability-category factor.
Rental vacancy1.3%-Census ACS B25004 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024Share of rentals empty. Lower means more pricing power. A Stability-category factor.
Property tax rate1.1%-Census ACS B25103/B25077 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024Median tax over median value. A direct drag on cash flow, scored in the Stability category as carrying-cost burden.
Months of supply2.1 mo-Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01Listings over sales pace. Under about 4 is a seller market, over 6 a buyer market. A Stability-category factor.
Days on market17 days-Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01How fast homes sell. Lower means more liquidity and an easier exit. Shown for context, not scored.
Sale-to-list ratio101.6%-Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01Sale price over asking. Above 100% means homes clear over ask. Shown for context, not scored.
Net domestic migration-4.0/1k-Census PEP (county) · PEP vintage 2025Net people moving in or out of the county, per 1,000 residents. Shown for context, not scored.
Building permitsnot measured-derivedNew-construction permits per 1,000 homes. More means more supply coming. Shown for context, not scored.
Rent burden33%-Census ACS B25071 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024Median rent as a share of income. Higher means less headroom for increases. Shown for context, not scored.
Median year built1965-Census ACS B25035 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024Age of the housing stock. Older stock carries more capex. Shown for context, not scored.
Max drawdown25%-Zillow ZHVI · 2026-08-31Worst peak-to-trough home-value decline on record. Shown for context, not scored.
Violent crime33 /100k, county-FBI CDE · 2023Reported violent-crime rate, via the county sheriff (municipal-level not available). Scored in the Stability category; property crime is scored too but shown here as the headline safety number. City-level data cannot resolve within-neighborhood risk.

Where to go next from Catonsville

Every link below is this market's own data taken one step further: its neighbours in the ranking, the same numbers side by side, or the same numbers in a calculator you can change.

Nearby in the Maryland rankings, and national look-alikes

  • Brunswick, MDGrade A · score 64/100 · yield 6.2% · $407,630 · #404 nationalZillow ZHVI $145k (2000) to $408k (2026), +181%
  • Aberdeen, MDGrade A · score 62/100 · yield 6.7% · $345,386 · #573 nationalZillow ZHVI $134k (2000) to $345k (2026), +158%
  • Havre de Grace, MDGrade A · score 60/100 · yield 5.0% · $408,306 · #689 nationalZillow ZHVI $168k (2000) to $408k (2026), +144%
  • Chesapeake Beach, MDGrade B · score 57/100 · yield 6.9% · $460,538 · #993 nationalZillow ZHVI $165k (2000) to $461k (2026), +180%

All Maryland cities →

Compare Catonsville head to head

Underwrite a Catonsville deal

  • Cap rateOpens on Catonsville's own entry price and rent. Change either one.
  • Cash flow & DSCRMonthly cash flow and DSCR, prefilled with this market's numbers.
  • Mortgage paymentP&I on Catonsville's entry price at the assumptions shown above.
  • All marketsCompare Catonsville against 4,812 ranked cities.
  • Maryland ZIP CodesEvery Maryland ZIP Code area (Census ZCTAs), scored separately from the city rankings.
  • Ranked listsYield, affordability, growth, stability, price band, or whether rent covers the mortgage.

For learning, not advice. A market screen from public data - not a forecast, not underwriting, not a recommendation to buy anywhere.