Standards · How we work

Editorial & Corrections Policy

PlainRent turns HUD's published Fair Market Rent schedules into county, metro, and state pages. This page explains how those pages are produced, the standards we hold them to, and exactly how to flag a number that looks wrong.

HUD FMR
Primary dataset
At source
Where we fix errors
/contact
Report a data error

How Pages Are Produced

PlainRent's county, metro, and state pages are generated from a single documented dataset: HUD's annual Fair Market Rent (FMR) schedules. We download each year's published FMR files directly from HUD's FMR documentation system, load them into a structured database, and render each geographic page from that database. The figures you see — studio through four-bedroom FMRs, year-over-year changes, state medians, and affordability comparisons — are computed from HUD's numbers, not hand-typed and not estimated by us.

This is a data-publishing model: the same template renders thousands of pages so that every county is covered consistently. We are transparent that these data pages are produced programmatically from the source dataset rather than written individually. The editorial work goes into the pipeline (how data is sourced, normalized, and computed), the methodology, and the written guides — not into hand-authoring 3,100 near-identical county pages, which would add no accuracy and invite inconsistency.

Sourcing Standards

  • Primary sources only. Rent figures come from HUD's published FMR schedules. The underlying survey inputs are the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and BLS Consumer Price Index rent trends, as documented in our methodology.
  • Attribution in context. Each data page names its dataset and vintage near the figures, and links to the methodology that explains how HUD calculates Fair Market Rents.
  • Derived values are labeled. Numbers we compute ourselves — percentile rankings, year-over-year changes, income-to-afford comparisons — are presented as our analysis of HUD data, distinct from HUD's published figures.
  • No invented data. Where a value is unavailable for an area, the page says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate.

Update Cadence

HUD publishes final Fair Market Rents once a year, in the fall, for the upcoming federal fiscal year (beginning October 1). We refresh our database when each new FMR schedule is released and recompute year-over-year trends. Between annual releases the figures are stable because the source itself does not change; actual market rents can move faster than HUD's annual cycle, which is why our pages frame FMR as HUD's policy benchmark rather than a live market quote. The reference year is shown on every data page.

Corrections Process

If a figure on PlainRent looks wrong, please tell us. Because our pages are generated from the HUD dataset, a genuine error almost always traces back to either the source data or our processing of it — so this is how we handle a report:

  1. Report. Email us through the contact page with the page URL and the number that looks off.
  2. Verify. We compare the figure against HUD's published FMR documentation for that area and year.
  3. Fix at the source. If the value is wrong on our side, we correct it in the database and pipeline that generate the page — not just on the single page — so every affected page is fixed at once. If the figure faithfully reflects HUD's published data, we explain that and, where useful, add context.
  4. Note it. Material corrections that change a published figure are reflected the next time the page rebuilds, with the data reference year shown so you can see which release a page is based on.

We aim to acknowledge data-error reports within a few business days.

Editorial Independence

PlainRent is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with HUD, the Census Bureau, or any government agency. Our guides and analysis are not influenced by advertisers; advertising, where present, is clearly distinguishable from editorial content and never determines which rents or rankings we show. Our rankings are computed mechanically from HUD figures, so no area can pay to move up a list.

Appropriate Use

PlainRent is for informational purposes only and does not constitute housing, financial, or legal advice. Fair Market Rents are HUD's policy benchmark — the 40th percentile of gross rents used to set program payment standards — not a quote for any specific unit. For decisions about a lease, a voucher, or your budget, confirm current figures with HUD and consult a qualified housing counselor or financial professional.