Region · Census Middle Atlantic division · Northeast
Middle Atlantic rental markets
New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 3 states and 551 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
Middle Atlantic ranks #8 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 39.4/100 across its ranked cities, below the national median. 3 states make up this division. Its strongest factor is rent growth: 4.4%, 3rd of 9, backed by home-value growth (3rd).
The biggest drag is population growth: 0.1%, 9th of 9. A region 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 551 ranked cities in this region. The national rank compares all 9 regions 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 | Region value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 6.3% | #5 of 9 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 4.4% | #3 of 9 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 4.6% | #3 of 9 |
| Population growth | Growth | 0.1% | #9 of 9 |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.4% | #7 of 9 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 7.4× | #8 of 9 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 4.9% | #8 of 9 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 56% renters · 4.2% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 5.2% | #5 of 9 |
States in the Middle Atlantic division
Ordered by median Overall across each state's ranked cities. A public rank appears only for states that clear the 20-city and 10-county coverage threshold.
| Div rank | State | Overall score | Grade | Gross yield | Home-value growth | Price-to-income | Ranked cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #25 | Pennsylvania | 44.6 | C | 7.7% | 4.9% | 4.1× | 194 |
| #35 | New York | 37.7 | D | 6.1% | 4.1% | 8.9× | 167 |
| #36 | New Jersey | 35.4 | F | 5.5% | 5.9% | 6.6× | 190 |
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.