Region · Census Pacific division · West
Pacific rental markets
The Pacific coast and noncontiguous states. 5 states and 642 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
Pacific ranks #9 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 36.2/100 across its ranked cities, below the national median. 5 states make up this division. Its strongest factor is income growth: 5.8%, 2nd of 9.
The biggest drag is gross rental yield: 4.1%, 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 642 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 | 4.1% | #9 of 9 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 3.8% | #6 of 9 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 3.6% | #5 of 9 |
| Population growth | Growth | 0.2% | #7 of 9 |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.5% | #6 of 9 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 8.2× | #9 of 9 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 5.3% | #9 of 9 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 46% renters · 4.2% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 5.8% | #2 of 9 |
States in the Pacific 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #31 | Washington | 41.3 | D | 3.9% | 3.8% | 6.6× | 122 |
| #32 | Oregon | 41.2 | D | 4.3% | 2.6% | 6.0× | 80 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Alaska | 38.8 | D | 5.4% | 3.1% | 4.3× | 11 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Hawaii | 32.3 | F | 4.2% | 1.0% | 9.0× | 1 |
| #37 | California | 30.3 | F | 4.1% | 3.6% | 8.6× | 428 |
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.