Do you rent an apartment in metro Atlanta? If so, you’re likely to notice that rental rates have been on the rise lately – along with pretty much everything. This post is the first in a 3-part series that will take a closer look at Atlanta’s rental rates in the housing market using a variety of data sources and visualizations.
Our blog post on purchasing power visualized data from Numbeo on several cost indices, with rental rates being one. The data showed Atlanta’s rental index to compare favorably with others around the southeastern U.S. The city’s rental index is relatively lower (i.e., less expensive) than that of Nashville, Charlotte, Tampa, or Miami, while the index is higher (i.e., more expensive rental rates) when compared to Memphis, Birmingham, or Jacksonville.
But if we’re curious how county rental rates within metro Atlanta compare to each other (and we are!), then more granular data are needed. For such an analysis, we turn to Zillow, which publishes a proprietary monthly metric called the Zillow Observed Rent Index. From Zillow’s methodology page, this metric “is dollar-denominated by computing the mean of listed rents that fall into the 40th to 60th percentile range for all homes and apartments in a given region.” It’s a rough estimate of residential rental rates across all types (e.g., studio, one bedroom, etc.).
The Findings
Based on our initial findings with this dataset, Forsyth County leads the pack for ZORI values as compared to the other metro counties. And given the fact that Forsyth County also leads the metro area in projected population growth (as a percentage), median household income, median home value, and high school graduation rates, among other variables, perhaps this is not too surprising. However, the magnitude of this discrepancy is put into sharp relief by the visualizations that follow.
While all counties have dealt with rising rental rates over the past couple of years, the upward trajectory accelerated noticeably in 2021 but has cooled somewhat since. Within the last 12 months alone, Fayette, Fulton, and Cherokee Counties have all taken turns as home to the metro area’s second-highest ZORI values behind Forsyth. In more recent months, Cherokee and Fulton Counties remain in lockstep with one another for second highest ZORI, with Fayette County remaining lower. Similarly, Rockdale and Clayton Counties have trended in nearly identical ZORI values for much of 2022, and both counties feature the lowest indices of all metro counties. Based on these data we see that renters in these latter counties, all else being equal, enjoy a somewhat lower housing burden than their counterparts to the northeast.
Note: The interactive chart and time-slider map below reflect ZORI values from December 2019 to August 2022 (latest available).
The Visuals
The following chart allows isolating a single county by double-clicking on the name of the county within the legend box. You can then single-click additional counties for comparison. Finally, double-clicking the legend will reset the visual to all 11 counties.
Map with time slider: