Section 8 Rental Property for Landlords: What HUD Pays (2026)
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Quick Answer
This page is for the landlord or investor who wants to rent to voucher holders. If you are a tenant looking for a home that accepts Section 8, call your local public housing authority (PHA); it keeps the list of participating owners and the voucher rules for your area. As of October 13, 2026, here is what a landlord is paid and signs. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent (FMR) for 2,606 areas; the FY2027 figures took effect on October 1, 2026 (91 FR 56156) and the median two-bedroom FMR is $1,017 and the median three-bedroom $1,368 (our arithmetic). The FMR is not what you are paid: the local PHA sets a payment standard between 90% and 110% of the FMR (24 CFR 982.503(c)), the subsidy is “the lower of” the payment standard or the gross rent, each minus the tenant's payment (24 CFR 982.505(b)), and the PHA must find the rent “reasonable” against comparable unassisted units (24 CFR 982.507). In the 20 largest metros the two-bedroom FMR fell in nine and rose in eleven from FY2026: Chicago +12.9% to $2,011, Dallas −6.4% to $1,807 (our arithmetic). HUD's data show 2,334,114 vouchers in use on December 31, 2025, with HUD paying an average $1,255 a month per voucher and tenants $493. Inspections move to the NSPIRE standard for vouchers on February 1, 2027. Seven jurisdictions whose statutes we read from official sites (Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, Washington) bar refusing a tenant for the source of the rent; whether you may refuse a voucher depends on your state. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
Key Takeaways
- The FMR is a benchmark, not your rent. HUD estimates the 40th percentile gross rent (rent plus utilities) for each of 2,606 areas; the PHA then sets a payment standard of 90% to 110% of it (24 CFR 982.503(c)), and your rent to owner cannot exceed the PHA's “reasonable rent” (24 CFR 982.507(a)(4)).
- FY2027 FMRs (effective October 1, 2026): median two-bedroom $1,017 (range $517 to $4,254), median three-bedroom $1,368. Against FY2026 as revised in May 2026, the two-bedroom FMR rose in 2,136 areas and fell in 466; the median change was +4.2% (our arithmetic). In the 20 largest metros it fell in nine: Dallas −6.4%, San Diego −5.9%, Phoenix −5.7%.
- Inside one metro the ceiling changes by ZIP code where Small Area FMRs apply (85 areas are marked in HUD's FY2027 schedule). Chicago's two-bedroom Small Area FMR runs from $1,060 to $3,030 across 370 ZIP codes; Washington, DC from $1,140 to $3,660.
- What you sign: a lease of at least one year with no rent increase in the first term (24 CFR 982.309(a)), a HAP contract that starts no later than 60 days after the lease (24 CFR 982.305(c)), and a unit that stays at the inspection standard or the HAP is withheld and then abated (24 CFR 982.404). HUD's third extension moves the NSPIRE standard for vouchers to February 1, 2027.
- Scale: 2,334,114 vouchers in use on December 31, 2025 (2,797,793 units under contract), housing 5,151,592 people; California, New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois hold 40.2% of the vouchers in the 50 states and DC. Average HUD payment per voucher: $1,780 a month in California, $586 in Arkansas (HUD Picture of Subsidized Households).
- Refusing a voucher is legal in some states and a violation in others. We read the official text for Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia and Washington; a March 2026 compendium by the Poverty and Race Research Action Council lists 19 states plus DC and Guam with source-of-income laws, and seven states that bar cities from adding their own.
CSV · 325 rows
Section 8 (Housing Choice Voucher) rules and numbers for landlords, 2026
325 rows: FY2027 and FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the 20 largest metros, national FMR statistics, Small Area FMR spreads for 8 metros, 24 CFR Part 982 payment standard, rent reasonableness and HAP contract rules, the NSPIRE date, state source-of-income statutes read from official sites, and vouchers in use by state. One source per row.
What a Section 8 landlord is actually paid: from FMR to the check
Searches for “section 8 rental property” mix two readers: tenants looking for a unit and owners deciding whether to rent to a voucher holder. The pages that rank mostly serve the first. This one serves the second, and it starts with the number every owner asks about: how much does Section 8 pay.
HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for every metropolitan area and rural county each fiscal year. HUD's notice says its calculations “represent HUD's best effort to estimate the 40th percentile gross rent paid by recent movers into standard quality units in each FMR area” (91 FR 56156, September 1, 2026). Gross rent means rent plus utilities, so the FMR is a ceiling for the whole housing cost, not for the rent you collect. The FY2027 figures are effective October 1, 2026 unless HUD receives a valid reevaluation request for a specific area (same notice). FY2027 is the current year; the FY2026 figures, revised effective May 21, 2026, are the comparison used below.
Between HUD and your bank account sit three more steps, all in 24 CFR Part 982:
- The PHA sets a payment standard. “A basic range payment standard amount is any dollar amount that is in the range from 90 percent up to 110 percent of the published FMR for a unit size” (24 CFR 982.503(c)). A PHA may go to 120% only if it meets a criterion such as fewer than 75% of issued vouchers being used, or for an individual disabled family as a reasonable accommodation (982.503(d)(3) and (d)(5)); beyond that it needs HUD approval (982.503(d)(4)). Where Small Area FMRs are required, the payment standard follows the ZIP code, not the metro (982.503(a)(1)).
- The subsidy is capped by the payment standard and by the actual rent. “The PHA shall pay a monthly housing assistance payment on behalf of the family that is equal to the lower of: (1) The payment standard for the family minus the total tenant payment; or (2) The gross rent minus the total tenant payment” (24 CFR 982.505(b)). The regulation calls the payment standard “the maximum monthly subsidy payment” (982.505(a)).
- Your rent must be reasonable. “The PHA may not approve a lease until the PHA determines that the initial rent to owner is a reasonable rent” (24 CFR 982.507(a)(1)), judged against “other comparable unassisted units” by location, quality, size, unit type, age, amenities and services (982.507(b)). It is redetermined before any rent increase (982.507(a)(2)(i)), and by accepting each payment “the owner certifies that the rent to owner is not more than rent charged by the owner for comparable unassisted units in the premises” (982.507(d)).
Two details that decide a deal. First, the tenant's share is protected: when a family first receives assistance and the gross rent is above the payment standard, the family share may not exceed 40% of monthly adjusted income (24 CFR 982.305(a)(5)), so a PHA can refuse to approve a rent that is too high even if it is reasonable. Second, you cannot collect the gap from the tenant: “The owner may not demand or accept any rent payment from the tenant in excess of this maximum, and must immediately return any excess rent payment to the tenant” (24 CFR 982.451(b)(4)(ii)). When the tenant pays utilities, the PHA applies a utility allowance schedule (24 CFR 982.517(a)(1)), which is why the same FMR buys a different rent to owner in an all-electric building than in one where you pay the heat (our reading).
FY2027 Fair Market Rents in the 20 largest metros, and what moved
The table lists the 20 largest HUD metropolitan FMR areas by 2024 population (the population field in HUD's file), with the FY2027 two- and three-bedroom FMR, the change in the two-bedroom FMR from FY2026 as revised, and the 90% to 110% band a PHA may adopt without HUD approval (our arithmetic). “Yes” in the last column means HUD's schedule marks the area as one where Small Area FMRs are required for the voucher program.
FY2027 Fair Market Rents, 20 largest metropolitan FMR areas (effective October 1, 2026)
| FMR area | 2-bedroom FY2027 | 3-bedroom FY2027 | 2-bedroom change vs FY2026 | 2-bedroom 90% to 110% band | 3-bedroom 90% to 110% band | Small Area FMRs required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY HMFA | $2,971 | $3,760 | +2.1% | $2,674 to $3,268 | $3,384 to $4,136 | No |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA HMFA | $2,964 | $3,760 | +2.1% | $2,668 to $3,260 | $3,384 to $4,136 | Yes |
| Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL HMFA | $2,011 | $2,586 | +12.9% | $1,810 to $2,212 | $2,327 to $2,845 | Yes |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HMFA | $1,497 | $2,017 | −4.8% | $1,347 to $1,647 | $1,815 to $2,219 | Yes |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA | $1,860 | $2,216 | +2.8% | $1,674 to $2,046 | $1,994 to $2,438 | Yes |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HMFA | $2,438 | $3,107 | +8.5% | $2,194 to $2,682 | $2,796 to $3,418 | Yes |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA HMFA | $1,762 | $2,099 | −3.2% | $1,586 to $1,938 | $1,889 to $2,309 | Yes |
| Dallas, TX HMFA | $1,807 | $2,275 | −6.4% | $1,626 to $1,988 | $2,048 to $2,502 | Yes |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ MSA | $1,734 | $2,287 | −5.7% | $1,561 to $1,907 | $2,058 to $2,516 | Yes |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA | $2,103 | $2,771 | −4.5% | $1,893 to $2,313 | $2,494 to $3,048 | No |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI HMFA | $1,459 | $1,777 | +3.4% | $1,313 to $1,605 | $1,599 to $1,955 | Yes |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI HMFA | $1,734 | $2,264 | +1.5% | $1,561 to $1,907 | $2,038 to $2,490 | No |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HMFA | $3,008 | $3,584 | +2.3% | $2,707 to $3,309 | $3,226 to $3,942 | No |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA | $1,917 | $2,448 | −3.0% | $1,725 to $2,109 | $2,203 to $2,693 | Yes |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA MSA | $2,823 | $3,743 | −5.9% | $2,541 to $3,105 | $3,369 to $4,117 | Yes |
| Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA HMFA | $3,057 | $4,153 | −5.5% | $2,751 to $3,363 | $3,738 to $4,568 | No |
| Seattle-Bellevue, WA HMFA | $2,549 | $3,324 | +1.9% | $2,294 to $2,804 | $2,992 to $3,656 | Yes |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO MSA | $2,169 | $2,846 | +3.8% | $1,952 to $2,386 | $2,561 to $3,131 | No |
| Nassau-Suffolk, NY HMFA | $2,689 | $3,458 | −2.1% | $2,420 to $2,958 | $3,112 to $3,804 | No |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA | $2,006 | $2,509 | +8.0% | $1,805 to $2,207 | $2,258 to $2,760 | No |
Across all 2,606 areas the two-bedroom FMR rose in 2,136, fell in 466 and was unchanged in 4, with a median change of +4.2%; for three bedrooms the figures are 1,999 up, 597 down and 10 unchanged, median +3.8% (our arithmetic). The big metros did not follow the national median: nine of the 20 fell. HUD's notice limits how fast an FMR can fall, setting it no lower than 90% of the prior year's (91 FR 56156), so no area can fall by more than 10% in a year, and a PHA with a payment standard at 110% of last year's FMR may have to cut it within three months of the new FMR date (24 CFR 982.503(c)(3)). For a current tenant that does not automatically cut the subsidy: the PHA “may choose not to reduce the payment standard amount used to calculate the subsidy for a family for as long as the family continues to reside in the unit” (24 CFR 982.505(c)(3)).
An owner buying a rental should therefore check three things before looking at the FMR table: the PHA's own payment standard for the ZIP code and bedroom count (it is public in the PHA administrative plan), the direction of the FMR (a falling FMR is where owners are asked to accept less at renewal), and whether the area is a Small Area FMR area.
Same metro, different ZIP code: Small Area FMRs
In the areas HUD marks with a plus sign in its schedule, the metro-wide number is replaced by a figure per ZIP code. HUD's notice says it has required PHAs in certain metropolitan areas to use Small Area FMRs, including 41 areas added by an October 25, 2023 notice (88 FR 73352), and that PHAs elsewhere may opt in. The FY2027 schedule marks 85 areas with a plus sign (our count of the schedule). The spread inside one metro is large.
Two-bedroom Small Area FMR by ZIP code inside selected metros, FY2027
| Metro | ZIP codes | Lowest 2-bedroom (ZIP) | Median 2-bedroom | Highest 2-bedroom (ZIP) | 3-bedroom range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL HMFA | 370 | $1,060 (61012) | $2,010 | $3,030 (60585) | $1,400 to $3,900 |
| Dallas, TX HMFA | 260 | $1,020 (75161) | $1,720 | $2,710 (75072) | $1,290 to $3,410 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA | 473 | $1,230 (21915) | $1,900 | $2,790 (08019) | $1,470 to $3,320 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA HMFA | 299 | $1,000 (30108) | $1,770 | $2,640 (30309) | $1,190 to $3,150 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HMFA | 488 | $1,140 (23117) | $2,400 | $3,660 (20003) | $1,530 to $4,660 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ MSA | 225 | $1,380 (85006) | $1,740 | $2,600 (85045) | $1,870 to $3,430 |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI HMFA | 250 | $1,010 (48095) | $1,460 | $2,220 (48168) | $1,230 to $2,700 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HMFA | 327 | $1,010 (77485) | $1,470 | $2,250 (77002) | $1,350 to $3,030 |
HUD limits each two-bedroom Small Area FMR to no more than 150% of the metro two-bedroom FMR (91 FR 56156). For a landlord this is the single biggest reason a metro-wide table is a poor guide: a building in a high-rent ZIP code can carry a payment standard nearly three times that of a building in a low-rent ZIP code ten miles away, and the reasonable-rent test still applies on top.
The contract you sign: HAP contract, inspection, termination
A Section 8 tenancy has two documents: your lease with the tenant (with HUD's tenancy addendum) and the HAP contract between you and the PHA. The sequence, from 24 CFR Part 982:
| Step or rule | What the regulation says | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection before the lease | The PHA may not approve the tenancy or sign the HAP contract until the unit passes inspection. At a PHA with up to 1,250 budgeted tenant-based units the inspection and determination must come within 15 days of the request for tenancy approval; the clock stops while the unit is not available. | 24 CFR 982.305(a)(2), (b)(2)(i)(A), (b)(2)(ii) |
| Lease term | Initial lease at least one year, unless the PHA approves a shorter term that improves housing opportunities and is the local market practice. The owner may not raise the rent during the initial term. | 24 CFR 982.309(a) |
| HAP contract timing | The HAP contract must be executed no later than 60 calendar days from the beginning of the lease term. The PHA may not pay any housing assistance until it is executed. | 24 CFR 982.305(c) |
| Late PHA payment | The HAP contract provides penalties for late payment by the PHA only if the owner charges late penalties to assisted and unassisted tenants alike and also to the tenant for late family rent; a PHA owes none where HUD finds the delay was beyond its control. | 24 CFR 982.451(b)(5)(ii) |
| Owner's job | Select the voucher-holder and decide whether the family is suitable; maintain the unit to the inspection standard; collect the deposit and the tenant's share; enforce the lease; pay utilities not paid by the family. Being a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking is not a basis for denial if the applicant otherwise qualifies. | 24 CFR 982.452(b) |
| Ending the tenancy | During the term the owner may end it only for serious or repeated violation of the lease (including failure to pay rent or other amounts due under the lease), violation of law, or other good cause. A late PHA payment is not a lease violation and cannot be grounds. | 24 CFR 982.310(a), (b)(2) |
| If the unit fails | The PHA may withhold payments after written notice and must abate them if repairs are not made within 24 hours for life-threatening deficiencies or 30 days (or another reasonable period) for others; if the unit still fails 60 days after the abatement notice the PHA must terminate the HAP contract. The owner may not end the tenancy because of withholding or abatement. | 24 CFR 982.404(a), (d) |
Inspections are changing. The housing quality standards (HQS) are being replaced for vouchers by HUD's National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE; 24 CFR 5.703). The compliance date has been moved three times. HUD's September 30, 2025 notice says PHAs “are not required to comply” with the NSPIRE changes to 24 CFR 982.4, 982.401 and subpart M “until February 1, 2027” and calls it the third extension of the date (Federal Register Doc. 2025-19070). We found no later notice extending it for vouchers as of October 13, 2026: a search of the Federal Register for NSPIRE notices after October 1, 2025 returned a September 29, 2026 “Scoring Notice” (which we did not read) and an April 14, 2026 notice for the HOME program. For an owner the practical change is that the standard applies to “the subsidized unit itself” and to items on the way from the unit door to the public way and the systems serving the unit, not to the whole property (24 CFR 5.703(a)). Check your PHA's own notice for the date it will start using NSPIRE.
Can you refuse a voucher? State and DC law
The federal rules above describe what the program does once you take part. They do not themselves say whether an owner in your state may refuse a voucher holder; that is state or local law. The Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), in its March 2026 compendium, lists source-of-income statutes in 19 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. It also lists seven states that block cities from adding their own protections (Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas) and four where the state law is weakened or does not reach vouchers (Maine, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin). PRRAC is a secondary source. We went to the legislatures' own sites; some would not load for us, so the table covers only the seven jurisdictions whose official text we read and saved on October 13, 2026.
State and DC source-of-income statutes, official text read October 13, 2026
| Jurisdiction | Statute | What the official text says (verbatim where quoted) | Landlord carve-outs we saw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | Conn. Gen. Stat. 46a-64c(a)(1), with the definition in 46a-63 | Unlawful “to refuse to sell or rent” or “otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of” a list that includes “lawful source of income”; the definition is “income derived from Social Security, supplemental security income, housing assistance, child support, alimony or public or state-administered general assistance.” | Subsection (b) exempts a room in a single-family dwelling where the owner lives and a unit in a small dwelling where the owner lives in one of the units; paragraph (b)(5) says the source-of-income rule does not “prohibit the denial of full and equal accommodations solely on the basis of insufficient income” |
| Delaware | 6 Del. C. 4603(b)(1); definition 4602(29) | Unlawful to refuse to rent or deny a dwelling because of “source of income”; “Source of income” means “any lawful source of money paid directly, indirectly, or on behalf of a renter or buyer of housing,” including “Income or rental payments derived from any government or private assistance, grant, or loan program.” | Section 4607 appears on the state site in two versions: one effective until December 31, 2028 and one effective December 31, 2028. The second says a landlord “is not required to participate in any government-sponsored rental assistance program, voucher, or certificate system”. Read both before relying on either |
| District of Columbia | D.C. Code 2-1402.21 | Unlawful discriminatory practice in real property transactions based on a list that includes source of income, and “The monetary assistance provided to an owner of a housing accommodation under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ... either directly or through a tenant, shall be considered a source of income under this section.” | Exemptions are in the same section; not summarized here |
| Maryland | Md. Code, State Government 20-705 | Unlawful to “refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer ... or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of” a list that includes “source of income”. | Exemptions are in the same article; not summarized here |
| Vermont | 9 V.S.A. 4503 | Unlawful to refuse to rent or deny a dwelling “because a person is a recipient of public assistance”. | The statute speaks of public assistance; PRRAC says Vermont's rules treat federal housing assistance as covered (secondary source) |
| Virginia | Va. Code 36-96.3 | Unlawful to refuse to rent or deny a dwelling because of a list that includes “source of funds”. | Exemptions are in the same chapter; not summarized here |
| Washington | RCW 59.18.255 | A landlord may not, based on source of income, refuse to lease; “source of income” “includes benefits or subsidy programs including housing assistance, public assistance, emergency rental assistance”. If you require a minimum income, any “rent voucher or subsidy must be subtracted from the total of the monthly rent prior to calculating if the income criteria have been met.” | A landlord may refuse where the tenant's source of income is conditioned on the property passing inspection, the written estimate of the repairs needed to pass is more than one thousand five hundred dollars, and the landlord has not received money from the program (RCW 59.18.255(1)(a)) |
What we could not confirm from an official site: the text of the other thirteen state statutes PRRAC lists (California, Colorado, Hawai'i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Utah). Several government sites blocked or did not answer our requests, so their absence from the table says nothing about what the statutes provide. A concrete example of why the text matters: PRRAC describes the Colorado law as covering landlords with more than three units, while the statute as reproduced on a non-official mirror (colorado.public.law, October 13, 2026) excuses a landlord with five or fewer single-family rental homes and no more than five rental units from accepting vouchers for those homes. We did not use that mirror for any quote and flag it because it differs from the compendium. If you own in one of those states, read the statute on the legislature's site or ask a landlord-tenant lawyer before you write a “no vouchers” line into an advertisement; several of these statutes also bar the advertisement itself (for example, Washington's RCW 59.18.255(2)).
In states with no statute on the list, our reading of 24 CFR 982.452(b)(1) is that the regulation leaves the choice of tenant to the owner (“selecting a voucher-holder to lease the unit, and deciding if the family is suitable for tenancy”), subject to the equal opportunity rules the same section lists. A city ordinance, a lender's or an insurer's rule, or a state preemption law (as in the seven preemption states PRRAC lists) can change that.
How big the program is: HUD's Picture of Subsidized Households
HUD's Picture of Subsidized Households (2025 edition, snapshot December 31, 2025) counts units under federal subsidy. For Housing Choice Vouchers it shows 2,797,793 units under contract and 2,334,114 occupied (83%), housing 5,151,592 people. Of the occupied vouchers, 1,965,742 are tenant-based, the kind a family takes to a landlord of its choice; project-based vouchers are tied to specific buildings (358,741). The average HUD payment is $1,255 per voucher per month and the average tenant payment toward rent and utilities is $493; the average household income is $19,276 a year. HUD's data dictionary defines the HUD figure as the monthly housing assistance payment divided by the occupied units, so it is a national average, not a rent.
Vouchers in use and average payments, 15 largest states (December 31, 2025)
| State | Vouchers in use | Average HUD payment per month | Average tenant payment per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 316,630 | $1,780 | $606 |
| New York | 247,467 | $1,643 | $565 |
| Texas | 150,345 | $1,154 | $455 |
| Florida | 109,826 | $1,644 | $538 |
| Illinois | 100,284 | $1,150 | $459 |
| Massachusetts | 92,714 | $1,735 | $607 |
| Ohio | 88,906 | $848 | $392 |
| New Jersey | 80,124 | $1,346 | $556 |
| Pennsylvania | 78,218 | $1,012 | $463 |
| Washington | 60,329 | $1,241 | $476 |
| Michigan | 55,684 | $858 | $423 |
| North Carolina | 54,738 | $844 | $420 |
| Georgia | 54,636 | $1,213 | $458 |
| Maryland | 53,027 | $1,476 | $554 |
| Virginia | 50,810 | $1,086 | $505 |
California, New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois hold 924,552 vouchers, 40.2% of the 50 states plus DC (our arithmetic). The average HUD payment per voucher runs from $1,780 in California to $586 in Arkansas among the 50 states and DC, a spread that follows rent levels and PHA payment standards (our reading). Waiting-list time is also in HUD's file (for example 62 months average wait in Maryland against 10 in West Virginia), and it tells an owner something practical: in the states where families wait longest, a voucher holder has the fewest alternatives.
If you are buying a rental to rent to voucher holders
A few searches on this page's topic are from investors who ask how to buy a Section 8 rental property. There is no separate product; the property is an ordinary rental whose income stream is partly paid by a PHA. What the numbers above change:
- Underwrite to the payment standard, not the FMR. The rent you can charge is the lower of the PHA's payment standard (plus the tenant's share) and the reasonable rent (24 CFR 982.505, 982.507). For a three-bedroom house in Chicago, the FY2027 FMR is $2,586 and the band a PHA may adopt without HUD approval is $2,327 to $2,845 (our arithmetic); the ZIP code decides where in that range, or outside it, the number lands.
- Allow for the timing. Up to 15 days for the first inspection at smaller PHAs and up to 60 days to the HAP contract (24 CFR 982.305), plus no HAP is paid before it is executed, so a vacancy carries a cost until the first payment.
- Allow for a falling FMR. In nine of the 20 largest metros the two-bedroom FMR fell for FY2027.
- Ask your lender in advance. A lender may count the lease, the appraiser's market rent, or the lesser of the two (see our DSCR loan calculator and DSCR loan requirements); an over-market subsidized rent may be underwritten at market. Nothing on this page says that any lender will or will not finance a voucher-rented property.
The lenders above make business-purpose investor loans (DSCR rental loans and short-term loans); they are shown because this section is for an investor buying a rental. They do not make owner-occupied consumer mortgages, and we have not seen any of them state a policy on voucher-rented properties.
What a landlord can do with this
- Call the PHA before you buy or list. Ask for the administrative plan, the current payment standard for your ZIP code and bedroom count, whether it uses Small Area FMRs, and when it will move to NSPIRE.
- Compute your rent three ways: the payment standard, the PHA's reasonable-rent comparison and your market rent. The lowest governs (24 CFR 982.505(b), 982.507(a)(4)).
- Build the vacancy and inspection timing into the pro forma: up to 15 days to inspect and 60 days to the HAP contract, and no HAP before it is signed (24 CFR 982.305).
- Fix before you list. An owner who fails to cure within 24 hours (life-threatening) or 30 days sees the HAP withheld and then abated, and cannot end the tenancy for it (24 CFR 982.404).
- Know your state's rule on refusing vouchers before writing an advertisement or a screening policy; use the legislature's site, not a summary.
- Check your insurance and your loan documents for rules about subsidized tenants; neither is covered by the regulations on this page.
For the landlord side of a portfolio, see also our single-family rental landlords census and rental income tax guide.
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When a rate, rule or filing behind this page changes: what changed, the one number that matters, and the source to check it yourself.
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Sources, read and saved on October 13, 2026: HUD User, Fair Market Rents FY2027 county-level file, Small Area FMR file and Schedule of Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Fair Market Rents (huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html), FY2026 FMRs as revised effective May 21, 2026, and the FY2026 schedule; Federal Register notice 91 FR 56156 (Document 2026-17891, September 1, 2026) and Document 2025-19070 (September 30, 2025); eCFR text of 24 CFR 5.703 and 24 CFR 982.305, 982.309, 982.310, 982.404, 982.451, 982.452, 982.503, 982.505, 982.507 and 982.517 (current through October 8, 2026); HUD Picture of Subsidized Households, 2025 national and state files and data dictionary (snapshot December 31, 2025); state statutes from the Connecticut General Assembly, Delaware Code Online, the Council of the District of Columbia, the Maryland General Assembly, the Vermont General Assembly, the Virginia Legislative Information System and the Washington State Legislature; PRRAC, Appendix B (updated March 2026) as a secondary source. Metro rankings, changes, bands, state shares and counts are our arithmetic from the HUD files with the script saved in sources/. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
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