Region · Census South Atlantic division · South
South Atlantic rental markets
The Atlantic-coast South from Delaware to Florida. 9 states and 716 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
South Atlantic ranks #2 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 53.3/100 across its ranked cities, above the national median. 9 states make up this division. Its strongest factor is population growth: 1.2%, 3rd of 9, backed by job growth (3rd).
The biggest drag is home-value growth: 3.4%, 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 716 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 | 6.4% | #4 of 9 |
| Rent growth | Growth | 3.7% | #7 of 9 |
| Home value growth | Growth | 3.4% | #8 of 9 |
| Population growth | Growth | 1.2% | #3 of 9 |
| Job growth | Growth | 1.1% | #3 of 9 |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.0× | #5 of 9 |
| Unemployment | Stability | 3.9% | #3 of 9 |
| Rental demand | Stability | 43% renters · 7.0% vacancy | two-part measure |
| Income growth | Growth | 5.6% | #3 of 9 |
States in the South 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | Delaware | 60.2 | A | 6.4% | 4.0% | 5.4× | 11 |
| #3 | Georgia | 57.8 | A | 6.4% | 4.2% | 4.5× | 141 |
| #5 | Florida | 55 | B | 6.7% | 2.7% | 5.5× | 226 |
| #7 | South Carolina | 54.1 | B | 6.1% | 4.0% | 4.9× | 64 |
| #8 | North Carolina | 53.2 | B | 5.6% | 3.8% | 4.7× | 140 |
| #24 | Virginia | 44.7 | C | 5.9% | 4.2% | 4.9× | 63 |
| #27 | West Virginia | 43.7 | D | 7.7% | 4.0% | 3.3× | 26 |
| #33 | Maryland | 39.4 | D | 8.0% | 2.9% | 4.0× | 44 |
| Insufficient coverage for headline state rank | District of Columbia | 34.4 | F | 5.3% | -0.7% | 5.2× | 1 |
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.