The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Fair Market Rents (FMRs), are now available on huduser.gov. The FY 2020 FMRs will be effective October 1, 2019. These FMRs are used in the Housing Choice Voucher, the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy, and the project-based voucher programs, as well as other programs that require location-specific economic data.

In general, the FMR for an area is the amount that would be needed to pay the gross rent (shelter rent plus utilities) of privately owned, decent, and safe rental housing of a modest (non-luxury) nature with suitable amenities and is set at the 40th percentile of the distribution of gross rents. The FMRs are calculated using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 5-year American Community Survey data collected between 2013 and 2017, a “recent mover factor based on 1-year American Community Survey data from 2017,” the Consumer Price Index, and trend factor forecasts. This year, HUD replaced the national trend factor with local and regional trend factors in order to improve the accuracy of the FMRs. Additional calculations are made to adjust for the number of bedrooms. FMRs are subject to state or national minimums and to a limit on year-to-year decreases. Additionally, some public housing agencies use Small Area FMRs, which are calculated for ZIP Codes within Metropolitan Areas.

Section 8(c)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 requires the Secretary of HUD to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, to be effective on October 1 of each year. The tables, documentation system, a copy of the preamble, and additional information related to the FY 2020 FMRs are available from HUD User at https://www.huduser.gov/datasets/fmr.html. To find out more about the methodology used to calculate the FMRs for FY 2020, and for additional information on requesting a re-evaluation of specific areas’ FMRs, see our August 30, 2019 Federal Register notice.