Urban Honolulu, HI MSA Fair Market Rent

What these rents mean for the Urban Honolulu, HI MSA metro

HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rent schedule sets the Urban Honolulu, HI MSA Metro Area (CBSA 46520) 1-bedroom at $2,016, with a studio at $1,877, 2-bedroom at $2,642, 3-bedroom at $3,674, and 4-bedroom at $4,432. 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 Urban Honolulu, HI 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 Urban Honolulu, HI MSA is 110% above the US 1-bedroom FMR of $959. Year-over-year the 1-bedroom FMR shifted from $2,052 in FY 2025 to $2,016 in FY 2026 — a change of -1.8%, which is unusual and suggests softening demand or revised HUD sampling inputs. 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 $2,016, that implies a household income of $80,640 per year (about $6,720/month) — a 2-bedroom at $2,642 raises that income floor further. With a metro population of 1,010,100 and a median household income of $104,264, 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.