Rental market · Wilkinsburg, PA · Borough
Wilkinsburg, PA: average rent, home values, and rental yield
Middle Atlantic · Population 14,027
Why this market does or does not qualify
Overall City Market Score rank #3,075 of 4,812. The standardized Buy & Hold screen cannot produce a complete result for this city.
Supported strengths
Cash Flow 70/100 and Stability 57/100.
Measured weakness
Growth is the weakest category at 20/100.
Missing screen inputs: investor-entry price estimate. Primary evidenced risk: population growth is the weakest measured factor (1st national percentile).
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.
Why this grade
Overall 42.4 is a weighted geometric mean of the three category scores. Because they are multiplied rather than averaged, their distances from a perfect 100 combine as an exact identity, and each category's share of that distance is the arithmetic below, not an estimate. Growth carries 66% of it, which is what makes it the binding constraint on this grade.
Inside Growth, the shortfall splits over the factors the model scored here, exactly, in proportion to their published weights. The largest component is population growth (weight 12 of the category's 35, 1st national percentile, 42% of the category's own shortfall); next is job growth (weight 12 of the category's 35, 14th national percentile, 37% of the category's own shortfall).
What this is not. It is not a claim that a different value on any one factor would produce a different score or a different grade. Every factor is scored as a national percentile and the grade is a percentile cut against the other 4,812 ranked markets, so this market's position moves only relative to all of them, never on its own. All 13 factors were measured for this market, so no category is carrying a gap.
How Wilkinsburg ranks nationally
Each row places Wilkinsburg against all 4,812 ranked U.S. markets. The marker is this city; the centre tick is the national median, and the bar spans from that median to the marker, so its length is how far from the middle of the country this market sits and the side it falls on is the direction. Further right is more favorable to an investor: inverted measures (crime, vacancy, price-to-income) are already flipped so higher always means better here.
What a deal looks like here
We can't build a representative buy-box for Wilkinsburg yet: no investor-entry price (Zillow Bottom-Tier ZHVI) could be identity-matched to this market. Rather than fabricate numbers, bring your own price and rent to the calculator.
Open the cash-flow calculator →Market Negotiation Leverage
Strong buyer leverage (85th percentile among 6,196 cities with Redfin coverage)
Equal-weight composite of three Redfin signals’ national percentiles (days on market 64, months of supply 4.8, sale-to-list 92.5%), 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.
Price & rent history
Home value: no Zillow ZHVI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
Asking rent: no Zillow ZORI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
ZIP markets in Wilkinsburg
3 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) officially overlap Wilkinsburg by land area · 3 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, Wilkinsburg'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 Wilkinsburg itself; a city and a ZIP Code are different geographies, so the same measure can still show a different number at each level.
3 of 3 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 Code | Overallgrade · natl rank | Tier · overlap | Affordabilitysignal · natl rank | Rental marketsignal · natl rank | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15221Wilkinsburg | D 33#15,938 nat | RankedPrimary | 44#12,361 of 20,132 · bottom 39% | 59#5,611 of 20,132 · top 28% | 7.0%Survey yield |
| 15235Churchill | D 37#14,517 nat | Ranked8.0% overlap | 48#10,426 of 20,132 · bottom 48% | 57#6,800 of 20,132 · top 34% | 8.6%Survey yield |
| 15218Swissvale | F 27#17,630 nat | Ranked0.1% overlap | 44#12,054 of 20,132 · bottom 40% | 76#692 of 20,132 · top 3% | 6.3%Survey yield |
The honest read
Wilkinsburg scores 42/100 overall (grade D): 70 for Cash Flow, 20 for Growth, and 57 for Stability, each a 0–100 score built from the factors in that category. The scenario above shows what a representative investor-entry purchase pencils out to at today's rates. Everything we can measure is in the table below, with its source.
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.
| Factor | Value | National percentile | Source · as-of | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expense-adjusted yield fallback | 3.4% | Above median65th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Annual 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 income fallback | 3.4x | Top quartile78th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Home price over local median income. Lower is cheaper relative to what people earn. Part of the Cash Flow category. |
| Population growth | -1.2%/yr | Bottom 10%1st percentile · Growth | Census PEP · Census PEP 2020→2025 (vintage 2025) + Census PEP 2015→2025 (vintages 2019+2025) | Census 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 | Bottom quartile14th percentile · Growth | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2019→2025 (pre-COVID anchor; 2025 is an 11-month average) + BLS LAUS county annual 2015→2025 | County employment trend, capped at 4.0%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate). A Growth-category factor. |
| Income growth | 4.8%/yr | Below median45th percentile · Growth | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Local median-income trend. A Growth-category factor. |
| Rent growth fallback | 4.1%/yr | Above median53rd percentile · Growth | Model cohort median (eligible county or state/population cohort); no city-specific observation. Published 2026-10-06 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year rent trend (the model's own weighting). A Growth-category factor. |
| Home-value growth fallback | 4.2%/yr | Below median37th percentile · Growth | Model cohort median (eligible county or state/population cohort); no city-specific observation. Published 2026-10-06 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year price trend (the model's own weighting). A small Growth-category factor. |
| Unemployment | 4.0% | Above median56th percentile · Stability | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2025 (11-month average) | County unemployment rate. Lower is steadier, a Stability-category factor. |
| Rental vacancy | 6.9% | Below median28th percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25004 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Share of rentals empty. Lower means more pricing power. A Stability-category factor. |
| Property tax rate | 1.8% | Bottom quartile14th percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25103/B25077 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Median tax over median value. A direct drag on cash flow, scored in the Stability category as carrying-cost burden. |
| Months of supply | 4.8 mo | Bottom quartile19th percentile · Stability | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | Listings over sales pace. Under about 4 is a seller market, over 6 a buyer market. A Stability-category factor. |
| Days on market | 64 days | Bottom quartile21st percentile | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | How fast homes sell. Lower means more liquidity and an easier exit. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 92.5% | Bottom 10%4th percentile | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | Sale price over asking. Above 100% means homes clear over ask. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Net domestic migration | -2.3/1k | Below median36th percentile | Census PEP (county) · PEP vintage 2025 | Net people moving in or out of the county, per 1,000 residents. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Building permits | 9.2/1k | Above median60th percentile | Census BPS (county) · BPS 2025 | New-construction permits per 1,000 homes. More means more supply coming. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Rent burden | 31% | Below median41st percentile | Census ACS B25071 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Median rent as a share of income. Higher means less headroom for increases. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Median year built | 1947 | Bottom 10%5th percentile | Census ACS B25035 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Age of the housing stock. Older stock carries more capex. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Max drawdown | not measured | - | derived | Worst peak-to-trough home-value decline on record. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Violent crime | not reported | - | FBI CDE | No agency reported this place to the FBI. We never impute a crime number; where it is missing, the Stability category renormalizes over its remaining factors. |
- † Job growth and unemployment are county-level (BLS LAUS, county FIPS 42003); large multi-county cities inherit their dominant county’s figures.
- Yield uses ACS median gross rent and home value (Census survey data, 2020–2024 average) because Zillow does not cover this city - not directly comparable to Zillow-based yields.
- Data flag: cashYield: ACS fallback (no Zillow rent+value).
- Data flag: rentGrowth: ACS CAGR fallback.
- Data flag: appreciation: ACS CAGR fallback.
Where to go next from Wilkinsburg
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 Pennsylvania rankings, and national look-alikes
- Pittsburgh, PAGrade D · score 43/100 · yield 7.7% · $239,865 · #2,992 nationalZillow ZHVI $79k (2000) to $240k (2026), +205%
- Monessen, PAGrade D · score 43/100 · yield 9.2% · $86,608 · #3,055 nationalZillow ZHVI $34k (2005) to $87k (2026), +151%
- Stroudsburg, PAGrade D · score 42/100 · yield 5.9% · $355,594 · #3,079 nationalZillow ZHVI $206k (2005) to $356k (2026), +72%
- Hermitage, PAGrade D · score 42/100 · yield 5.4% · $227,118 · #3,081 nationalZillow ZHVI $140k (2009) to $227k (2026), +62%
- Barrington, ILGrade D · score 42/100 · yield 5.0% · $645,992 · #3,076 nationalZillow ZHVI $300k (2000) to $646k (2026), +115%
- Birmingham, ALGrade D · score 42/100 · yield 11.6% · $136,876 · #3,074 nationalZillow ZHVI $105k (2001) to $137k (2026), +30%
- Lake Zurich, ILGrade D · score 42/100 · yield 6.1% · $512,227 · #3,073 nationalZillow ZHVI $216k (2000) to $512k (2026), +137%
Compare Wilkinsburg head to head
- Wilkinsburg vs Pittsburgh vs BarringtonThe pre-filled matchup: nearest in-state rank and closest national grade.
- Wilkinsburg vs Monessen, PAGrade D · yield 9.2%
- Wilkinsburg vs Birmingham, ALGrade D · yield 11.6%
- Pick your own opponentAny of the 5,233 tracked cities.
Underwrite a Wilkinsburg deal
- Cap rateOpens on Wilkinsburg'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 Wilkinsburg's entry price at the assumptions shown above.
- All marketsCompare Wilkinsburg against 4,812 ranked cities.
- Pennsylvania ZIP CodesEvery Pennsylvania 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.