2022 fair market rent: what the numbers mean and how they're set

Last updated 2026-07-09

What is a fair market rent and who does it actually affect?

A fair market rent (FMR) is the dollar figure HUD publishes each fall to cap what the Housing Choice Voucher program will pay in a given housing market. It is not an average rent. It is not an asking rent. HUD defines it as the 40th percentile of gross rents (rent plus utilities) paid by recent movers into standard-quality units in a metro area or nonmetro county ^[1]. The 40th percentile means 40 percent of recent movers paid at or below that number.

For voucher holders, the FMR matters because your public housing authority (PHA) sets its payment standard somewhere between 90 and 110 percent of the published FMR by default. HUD can grant exceptions above that ^[2]. Your payment standard is the maximum monthly subsidy the PHA will pay on your behalf. Rent above that number comes out of your own pocket, on top of the roughly 30 percent of income you already owe.

Landlords read the FMR differently. It tells you the rent range where a voucher holder's subsidy can actually cover your unit. Price well above the FMR and you will struggle to attract voucher tenants unless your PHA runs an exception payment standard for your area.

FMRs reach past vouchers too. Project-based rental assistance contracts, HOME program rents, and some rural housing programs all lean on FMRs when they set allowable rents.

How did HUD calculate FY 2022 fair market rents?

HUD published the FY 2022 FMRs on September 1, 2021, effective October 1, 2021 ^[1]. The math starts with 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) data on gross rents paid by recent movers, meaning households that moved within the past 15 months. HUD then applies a trend factor to drag that older survey data forward to the current year.

The trend factor pulls from the Consumer Price Index rent component and a local rent survey index. Here is the wrinkle that shaped the whole FY 2022 cycle: HUD used 2019 ACS data as its base because the pandemic wrecked the 2020 ACS collection cycle badly enough to force a methodological adjustment ^[3]. That means 2019 rents, captured before COVID, drove numbers that took effect in late 2021. Rents in a lot of metros had already blown past those levels. Critics said the FY 2022 FMRs came in low, and in some hot markets they were right.

After setting the base 2-bedroom FMR for each area, HUD applies fixed bedroom-size ratios to build out 0-bedroom through 4-bedroom figures. Those ratios are national, not local, so they rarely match the exact bedroom premium in any one market. Under 24 CFR Part 888, HUD has to publish proposed FMRs for public comment before finalizing them ^[4].

HUD also kept Small Area FMRs (SAFMRs) running for certain metros in FY 2022. SAFMRs get calculated at the ZIP code level instead of the metro level, so they can swing hard away from the metro-wide number inside the same city.

What were actual FY 2022 fair market rent numbers by bedroom size?

There is no single national FMR. HUD publishes figures for thousands of separate FMR areas, each with its own numbers. The spread in FY 2022 was wide. A 2-bedroom FMR in rural Mississippi could sit below $700, while a 2-bedroom in the San Jose or Honolulu metros topped $2,800 ^[1].

Here is a sample of FY 2022 2-bedroom FMRs for selected metros, pulled from HUD's FMR dataset.

Metro Area	FY 2022 2-BR FMR
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$2,828
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH	$2,173
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA	$2,059
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL	$1,302
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA	$1,279
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$1,256
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ	$1,196
Jackson, MS HMA	$815
Rural nonmetro counties (national low end)	~$650-700

These are gross rents, so they build in a utility estimate. When a unit does not include utilities, the PHA subtracts a utility allowance from the FMR to find the most the owner can charge the voucher program ^[2].

For the exact figure in your county or metro, go straight to HUD's FMR database at huduser.gov, which searches by state, metro, or county ^[1]. If you just want a fast estimate, a fair market rent calculator runs the lookup for you without digging through HUD's raw tables.

How did FY 2022 FMRs compare to FY 2023 fair market rents?

The FY 2022 to FY 2023 jump was one of the biggest in years. HUD's FY 2023 FMRs, effective October 1, 2022, rose an average of roughly 10 percent nationally, and some markets climbed 20 percent or more ^[5]. The FY 2022 numbers had lagged a market that moved fast during the pandemic, and FY 2023 closed most of that gap.

HUD fed newer ACS data into FY 2023 and rode a higher CPI rent trend factor built off the 2021-2022 inflation run. For voucher holders who kept striking out under FY 2022 payment standards, FY 2023 brought real relief, but only where PHAs raised their payment standards to match.

That is the catch. A PHA does not have to update its payment standard just because HUD publishes a higher FMR. It can sit still or move on its own timeline. So the practical value of a bigger FMR rides entirely on whether your PHA acted.

By FY 2024 (effective October 1, 2023), HUD kept adjusting, but the pace slowed sharply from the FY 2022-to-FY 2023 spike, tracking a broad cooldown in rent growth across many metros ^[6]. If you care about the current picture rather than the FY 2022 history, always pull the newest FMR schedule from HUD.

What is the difference between an FMR and a payment standard?

This one trips up almost everybody new to the program. The FMR is HUD's published number. The payment standard is your PHA's local policy call, built off that number.

By regulation, a PHA's basic payment standard has to land between 90 and 110 percent of the published FMR for each unit size ^[2]. If the FY 2022 2-bedroom FMR in your area was $1,200, your PHA could set its payment standard anywhere from $1,080 to $1,320 with no HUD sign-off. Going above 110 percent needs an exception from HUD, which PHAs request when the local market makes leasing up hard.

A few things surprise people here.

Payment standards can vary by bedroom size. A PHA does not have to use the same percentage of FMR across every unit size.

Your actual subsidy is not the payment standard. The PHA pays the lower of the payment standard or the actual rent plus utilities. You cover the gap between that subsidy and your rent, on top of your income-based share.

Move to a different PHA jurisdiction and you get that PHA's payment standard, not your old one. Standards can differ a lot between neighboring jurisdictions in the same metro.

How do small area FMRs differ from metro-wide FY 2022 FMRs?

Standard FMRs get set at the metro or county level, so one dollar figure covers a high-demand downtown and a cheaper suburb in the same breath. Small Area FMRs (SAFMRs) split the metro into ZIP codes and set a separate FMR for each one ^[7].

HUD started requiring SAFMRs in certain high-cost, high-opportunity metros through a 2016 final rule ^[11]. The idea is to give voucher holders a subsidy that can actually reach a stronger neighborhood, instead of a metro average that only works in the cheaper parts of town.

For FY 2022, HUD required SAFMRs in roughly 24 designated metros. The spread inside one metro can be startling. In the Dallas metro, FY 2022 ZIP-level 2-bedroom SAFMRs ran from around $900 in some suburban ZIP codes to over $1,900 in high-demand urban ones ^[7].

Hold a voucher in a SAFMR-required area and your PHA must set payment standards off ZIP-code SAFMRs, not the metro-wide FMR. That helps you or hurts you depending on where you want to live. Searching homes for rent with section 8 in a SAFMR market is a different math problem than doing it in a standard FMR market.

How do PHAs use FY 2022 FMRs to set rent reasonableness limits?

Rent reasonableness is a separate test that people constantly confuse with the FMR. A PHA cannot approve a voucher rent that is unreasonable next to unassisted units in the same market with similar features ^[2]. In practice, the PHA compares your proposed rent to recent rents for comparable units nearby.

The FMR informs that comparison but does not decide it. A unit can pass rent reasonableness even with rent above the FMR, as long as comparable unassisted units nearby rent for about the same. Flip it around: a unit priced right at the FMR could fail reasonableness if comparable units in that specific neighborhood consistently rent for far less. That is rare, but it happens.

Landlords need to see rent reasonableness and the payment standard as two separate gates. You might clear reasonableness and still price above the PHA's payment standard, which leaves the tenant with an out-of-pocket gap. Or your rent sits at the payment standard and the PHA's comparables analysis still pushes back.

If you are a landlord trying to see the whole picture before you accept a voucher, this is one of the topics in a dedicated landlord kit. VoucherReady built it to walk owners through the inspection, rent, and lease steps in one place.

Where can you look up FY 2022 fair market rents for your specific area?

The authoritative source is HUD's HUD User portal at huduser.gov ^[1]. HUD archives every year's FMR schedule, so you can still pull FY 2022 data even now that newer years exist. Search by state, metro, or county, and you get every bedroom-size FMR for that geography.

Three things to watch when you use the HUD lookup.

FMR areas do not always follow city or county lines. A metro FMR area can span several counties, and a single county can be split between a metro area and a nonmetro area.

The lookup returns FMRs, not payment standards. To find your PHA's actual payment standard for a given year, call the PHA or check its administrative plan, which many post online.

FY 2022 means the fiscal year that started October 1, 2021. Mixing up fiscal year labels with calendar years is the single most common mistake here. FY 2022 FMRs ran from October 2021 through September 2022.

To hunt for rentals priced within a given FMR, resources like low income houses for rent or apts that take section 8 let you cross-check listings against your local FMR figures.

What happened to FY 2022 FMRs in markets where rents spiked during the pandemic?

This is where FY 2022 drew heavy fire from housing advocates and plenty of PHAs. Rents in metros like Phoenix, Austin, Tampa, and Nashville jumped 20 to 30 percent or more between 2020 and 2022, pushed by in-migration and tight supply ^[8]. HUD's FY 2022 FMRs, built mostly on 2019 ACS data trended forward with CPI, could not catch that speed.

So voucher holders in those fast markets found their FY 2022 payment standards too low to compete. Landlords at market rents could just take unassisted tenants willing to pay well above what a voucher covered. Lease-up rates for voucher holders in high-inflation rental markets dropped through 2021 and into 2022.

HUD has tools for this. PHAs can request exception payment standards above the 110-percent ceiling, and HUD can run special surveys to adjust FMRs mid-year in distressed markets. But those are slow gears in a fast market. FY 2023 delivered real catch-up for many of these areas, and families whose vouchers expired mid-FY 2022 in a hot market still ran into serious trouble.

If you are a tenant in a competitive market hunting for a section 8 rent house, find out whether your PHA has requested or received an exception payment standard. One call to your housing coordinator settles it.

How do FY 2022 FMRs affect landlords deciding whether to accept vouchers?

The landlord math starts with one question: does the FMR for my area, plus the PHA's payment standard, produce a rent that works for me?

Where the FY 2022 FMR sat well below market rents, a lot of landlords found no reason to participate. If you could rent your 2-bedroom for $1,600 on the open market and the local payment standard was $1,200 off the FY 2022 FMR, the arithmetic did not close without a big tenant contribution.

Where the FMR ran closer to or above market rents (usually slower-growth or rural areas), vouchers looked more attractive. Guaranteed monthly payment from the PHA, the steady tenancy that often follows, and a wider applicant pool all turn into real advantages when the rent ceiling is competitive.

One complication worth naming. The FMR does not tell you the highest rent a voucher holder can pay in your unit. It tells you the ceiling on what the PHA will contribute. A tenant with higher income who can pay more than 30 percent of their adjusted income can sometimes rent above the payment standard. PHAs vary on how far above the payment standard a tenant can go at initial lease-up, so the details matter.

For landlords researching hud houses for rent or just figuring out where to price a unit, the FMR is the starting number, not the answer. A direct call to your PHA about its current payment standard and exception status for your ZIP code takes about 15 minutes and beats guessing from the FMR alone.

What changed between FY 2022, FY 2023, and FY 2024 fair market rents?

The three-year arc from FY 2022 to FY 2024 shows how HUD's methodology collides with real rent cycles.

FY 2022 (effective October 1, 2021): Built on 2019 ACS data with a CPI trend adjustment. National average increase over FY 2021 was modest, roughly 3 to 5 percent in most markets. It badly undershot actual rent growth in fast-moving metros.

FY 2023 (effective October 1, 2022): HUD folded in newer data and a larger trend factor that reflected real market movement. National average increase was about 10 percent, with some metros at 20 percent or higher ^[5]. This cycle partly corrected the FY 2022 lag. HUD also expanded SAFMR requirements to more metros.

FY 2024 (effective October 1, 2023): Increases slowed against FY 2023, tracking a rental market that was cooling across much of the country after interest rates shifted. Some markets saw flat or very small FMR changes ^[6].

FY 2022 stands out for anyone studying voucher program history. It was the first full year the program ran in a post-pandemic rental market while using pre-pandemic data as its main input. That mismatch hit families trying to lease up and PHAs trying to hit lease-up targets.

To compare your current subsidy against a few years back, pull the FMR schedules for each year from HUD User. That gives you the cleanest apples-to-apples read.

Can a landlord or tenant request an exception to the FY 2022 FMR?

Individual landlords and tenants cannot petition HUD to change an FMR directly. That is a PHA function. What you can do is ask the PHA whether an exception payment standard already exists or can be requested.

PHAs apply to HUD for an exception payment standard where the standard FMR-based standard is too low to find standard-quality housing ^[2]. Under 24 CFR 982.503, HUD may approve exception payment standards up to 120 percent of the FMR if market data justifies it. In some high-cost areas, HUD has approved standards above 120 percent as well.

For a tenant, the practical move is to ask your housing specialist two things: what is the current payment standard for my voucher bedroom size, and does this area carry any exception payment standard? Get the answer in writing. That number is your real budget for finding a unit.

For a landlord with a unit priced above the published payment standard, ask the PHA whether an exception applies to your ZIP code or neighborhood. In some SAFMR or exception areas, the effective ceiling for a specific address runs higher than the metro-wide FMR suggests.

The process is not tenant- or landlord-driven, but knowing whether your PHA already went through it can change your options. Many PHAs post their current payment standards in their administrative plans, which are public documents under 24 CFR 982.54 ^[4].

Frequently asked questions

What fiscal year does the 2022 fair market rent cover?

FY 2022 fair market rents were published by HUD on September 1, 2021, and took effect October 1, 2021. They stayed in effect through September 30, 2022. HUD's fiscal year runs October through September, so the FY number is always one ahead of the calendar year in which the FMRs get published and announced.

Where can I find the exact FY 2022 FMR for my county?

Go to huduser.gov and use the Fair Market Rents data search tool. Pick FY 2022 from the year dropdown, then filter by your state and county or metro. HUD archives every year's data, so FY 2022 figures stay available even though newer FMRs exist now. The results show 0-bedroom through 4-bedroom FMRs for your specific area.

Is the FMR the same as the maximum rent a landlord can charge a voucher holder?

Not exactly. The FMR informs the PHA's payment standard, which is the real ceiling on the subsidy. The payment standard sits between 90 and 110 percent of the FMR. A landlord can charge above the payment standard, but the tenant pays that difference out of pocket on top of their income-based share. PHAs also run a separate rent reasonableness test.

How much did fair market rents increase from FY 2022 to FY 2023?

Nationally, FY 2023 FMRs rose an average of roughly 10 percent over FY 2022, with some high-growth metros climbing 20 percent or more. It was one of the larger single-year FMR increases in recent history. It partly corrected the FY 2022 lag, which happened while HUD still leaned on 2019 ACS data even as actual rents had moved sharply upward.

Do all PHAs update their payment standards every time HUD publishes new FMRs?

No. PHAs set their own timing. A PHA might hold its payment standard steady for a year or more after HUD publishes higher FMRs. Updating the standard takes an amendment to the PHA's administrative plan. If your local FMR jumped but your PHA has not updated its payment standard, your effective subsidy ceiling has not moved. Call your PHA to confirm.

What is a Small Area FMR and how is it different from the standard FY 2022 FMR?

A Small Area FMR (SAFMR) is calculated at the ZIP code level instead of the metro level. HUD requires SAFMRs in certain designated metros to reflect rent variation inside a metro. A high-opportunity ZIP code can carry an SAFMR well above the metro-wide FMR, while a cheaper ZIP code sits below it. For FY 2022, roughly 24 metros were subject to SAFMR requirements.

Why did voucher holders in some cities struggle to find housing using FY 2022 payment standards?

FY 2022 FMRs were built mostly on 2019 ACS data trended forward with CPI. In markets where rents spiked 20 to 30 percent between 2020 and 2022, that method could not keep pace. Payment standards from those FMRs fell short of actual rents, so voucher holders could not compete with unassisted renters. The FY 2023 update partly corrected the gap in many of those markets.

Can a landlord negotiate a rent above the FMR with a voucher holder?

A landlord can ask any rent, but the PHA subsidizes only up to the payment standard. If the rent tops the payment standard, the tenant pays the difference on top of their income-based share. PHAs also apply rent reasonableness limits. At initial lease-up, many PHAs cap what a tenant can pay out of pocket, so a rent far above the payment standard can simply disqualify the unit for voucher use.

How are FMRs for different bedroom sizes calculated?

HUD calculates the base 2-bedroom FMR first, then applies fixed national bedroom-size ratios to build FMRs for 0-bedroom through 4-bedroom units. These ratios are the same nationwide, so they may not match the real bedroom premium in a specific local market. Smaller units carry lower ratios relative to the 2-bedroom, and larger units scale up from that same base.

What regulation governs HUD's FMR calculation and publication process?

24 CFR Part 888 governs FMR calculation and publication. Under it, HUD must publish proposed FMRs for public comment before finalizing them. The regulation also sets the method for using ACS data and applying trend factors. Payment standard ranges and the exception payment standard process are governed by 24 CFR 982.503.

Are utilities included in the FY 2022 fair market rent figures?

Yes. FMRs are gross rents, so they build in an estimate of utility costs. When a voucher unit does not include utilities in the lease, the PHA subtracts a utility allowance from the FMR to find the most the owner can charge. The PHA sets the utility allowance separately, and it varies by unit type, utility source, and local rates.

How do FY 2022 FMRs affect Section 8 project-based rental assistance, more than vouchers?

FMRs cap rents in the project-based Section 8 program too. For project-based contracts, the allowable rent is typically the lesser of the contract rent or the FMR, adjusted by bedroom size. Properties with expiring project-based contracts use FMRs as a reference point during rent negotiation with HUD. So the FY 2022 FMR touched both mobile vouchers and place-based subsidized properties.

Is the FMR the same in every ZIP code within a metro area?

For standard FMR areas, yes: one figure covers the whole metro. For metros subject to Small Area FMR requirements, the FMR varies by ZIP code. In FY 2022, roughly 24 designated metros used SAFMRs. If you are in one of those metros, the FMR for your specific ZIP code can run meaningfully higher or lower than the metro-wide average.

How quickly does a PHA have to implement a new FMR after HUD publishes it?

PHAs are not legally required to update payment standards the moment HUD publishes new FMRs. They have flexibility on timing, subject to their administrative plan and HUD oversight. Some PHAs update annually, others lag by a year or more. If timely payment standard updates matter to your search, call your PHA and ask for its current payment standard schedule by bedroom size.

Sources

1. HUD User, HUD Office of Policy Development and Research: Fair Market Rents: HUD published FY 2022 FMRs on September 1, 2021; FMRs represent the 40th percentile of gross rents paid by recent movers; the full FMR dataset by area is searchable on HUD User.
2. Code of Federal Regulations, 24 CFR Part 982: Section 8 Tenant-Based Assistance: Housing Choice Voucher Program: PHA payment standards must fall between 90 and 110 percent of the published FMR; exception payment standards up to 120 percent may be approved by HUD; rent reasonableness requirement applies separately.
3. HUD User, FY 2022 Fair Market Rents Briefing Materials: For FY 2022, HUD used 2019 ACS data as its base due to pandemic-related disruption to 2020 ACS data collection.
4. Code of Federal Regulations, 24 CFR Part 888: Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program, Fair Market Rents: 24 CFR Part 888 requires HUD to publish proposed FMRs for public comment before finalizing; governs FMR calculation methodology.
5. HUD User, FY 2023 Fair Market Rents Summary: FY 2023 FMRs increased an average of approximately 10 percent nationally over FY 2022, with some metros seeing 20 percent or more.
6. HUD User, FY 2024 Fair Market Rents Overview: FY 2024 FMR increases slowed compared to FY 2023, consistent with broader rental market cooling.
7. HUD User, Small Area Fair Market Rents: For FY 2022, HUD required SAFMRs in approximately 24 designated metro areas; ZIP-code-level variation within a single metro can be substantial.
8. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index: Rent of primary residence rose sharply in 2021 and 2022, with several Sun Belt metros posting some of the fastest rent increases in the country.
9. HUD.gov, Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet: General program description of the Housing Choice Voucher program, including payment standard mechanics and tenant income contribution.
10. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey: ACS data on gross rents paid by recent movers is the primary input for HUD FMR calculations; 5-year ACS data is used.
11. HUD Office of Policy Development and Research, Expanding Choice in HUD's Rental Assistance Programs: Small Area FMR Final Rule: HUD's 2016 final rule established the SAFMR requirement for designated high-cost, high-opportunity metropolitan areas.