Region · Census Mountain division · West
Mountain rental markets
The interior Mountain West. 8 states and 346 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
Mountain ranks #4 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 48.2/100 across its ranked cities, above the national median. 8 states make up this division. Its strongest factor is population growth: 1.3%, 1st of 9, backed by income growth (1st).
The biggest drag is gross rental yield: 4.6%, 8th 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 346 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 | 4.6% | #8 of 9 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 3.3% | #8 of 9 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 3.5% | #7 of 9 |
| Population growth | Growth | 1.3% | #1 of 9 |
| Job growth | Growth | 1.7% | #2 of 9 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.5× | #6 of 9 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 4.1% | #4 of 9 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 36% renters · 5.4% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 5.9% | #1 of 9 |
States in the Mountain 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #9 | Idaho | 53.1 | B | 4.4% | 5.2% | 6.1× | 36 |
| #13 | Arizona | 51.7 | B | 4.7% | 3.1% | 5.2× | 57 |
| #16 | Utah | 50.8 | B | 3.9% | 4.8% | 5.7× | 94 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Nevada | 48.3 | C | 4.8% | 4.1% | 5.8× | 12 |
| #22 | New Mexico | 45.5 | C | 5.9% | 3.7% | 4.9× | 35 |
| #28 | Colorado | 43.4 | D | 4.4% | 2.0% | 5.7× | 77 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Montana | 39.9 | D | 4.1% | 5.1% | 6.6× | 19 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Wyoming | 31.5 | F | 4.5% | 3.6% | 5.4× | 16 |
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.