36542 Gulf Shores, AL Fair Market Rent

What rent in ZIP 36542 actually means

HUD does not publish Fair Market Rents at the ZIP code level, it publishes them per FMR area, which is either a metropolitan statistical area or a non-metro county. ZIP 36542 (Gulf Shores, AL) sits inside Baldwin, so HUD's FY 2026 FMR for this ZIP is the county FMR: $1,200 for a 1-bedroom, with a studio at $1,094, 2-bedroom at $1,345, 3-bedroom at $1,692, and 4-bedroom at $2,171. These figures represent the 40th percentile of gross rents (including utilities except telephone), meaning roughly 60% of standard-quality units in the FMR area rent for more. Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards are set between 90% and 110% of this FMR.

Because HUD uses county-level FMR, every ZIP inside Baldwin shares the same baseline, a wealthy ZIP and a lower-cost ZIP in the same county will both show identical HUD figures even when street-level market rents differ substantially. Some metro areas participate in HUD's Small Area FMR program, which replaces a single metro FMR with ZIP-specific FMRs to give voucher holders access to higher-opportunity neighborhoods; if ZIP 36542 falls inside a SAFMR metro, its effective payment standard may differ. Against the national benchmark the 1-bedroom FMR here is 25% above the US average of $959, and 55% above the AL state average of $772. Year-over-year, the 1-bedroom moved up15.1% from FY 2025 ($1,043) to FY 2026.

For budgeting, the 30% affordability rule says rent should not exceed 30% of gross household income. At the FY 2026 1-bedroom FMR of $1,200, that implies a household income of $48,000 per year (about $4,000/month) to avoid being cost-burdened, a 2-bedroom at $1,345 lifts that threshold higher still. ZIP 36542 has a population of 12,705 residents, so the gap between these FMR figures and local wages shapes how many households qualify as rent-burdened (paying more than 30% of income) or severely burdened (above 50%). For renters comparing ZIP codes inside Baldwin, FMR will be identical, the real variation comes from school quality, commute, and private-market premiums not captured in HUD data.