Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA Fair Market Rent

What these rents mean for the Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA metro

HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rent schedule sets the Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA Metro Area (CBSA 43640) 1-bedroom at $1,130, with a studio at $990, 2-bedroom at $1,331, 3-bedroom at $1,724, and 4-bedroom at $1,996. These are the 40th percentile of gross rents, utilities included, excluding telephone, meaning roughly 60% of standard-quality rentals in the metro cost more. Because HUD treats a metropolitan statistical area as a single rent market, every county inside the Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA CBSA shares these FMR figures, and local housing authorities use them to set Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards (typically between 90% and 110% of FMR).

Against the national benchmark, a 1-bedroom in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA is 18% above the US 1-bedroom FMR of $959. HUD rebases metro FMRs annually using the American Community Survey and CPI rent components, so the figure changes each fiscal year as new data arrives. Metro-level FMRs often diverge from the rents listed for any single suburb, so renters should view this as the HUD ceiling, not a street-level market rate.

For affordability, the 30% rule says rent should not exceed 30% of gross household income. At the FY 2026 1-bedroom FMR of $1,130, that implies a household income of $45,200 per year (about $3,767/month) - a 2-bedroom at $1,331 raises that income floor further. With a metro population of 266,168 and a median household income of $79,277, the gap between FMR and local wages determines how many households qualify as rent-burdened (paying more than 30% of income) or severely burdened (above 50%). Metro FMR also anchors the Small Area FMR program, which sets ZIP-level payment standards in designated metros to expand voucher choice into higher-opportunity neighborhoods.