98281 Point Roberts, WA Fair Market Rent

What rent in ZIP 98281 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 98281 (Point Roberts, WA) sits inside Whatcom, so HUD's FY 2026 FMR for this ZIP is the county FMR: $1,493 for a 1-bedroom, with a studio at $1,463, 2-bedroom at $1,794, 3-bedroom at $2,495, and 4-bedroom at $3,010. 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 Whatcom 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 98281 falls inside a SAFMR metro, its effective payment standard may differ. Against the national benchmark the 1-bedroom FMR here is 56% above the US average of $959, and 27% above the WA state average of $1,180. Year-over-year, the 1-bedroom moved up8.1% from FY 2025 ($1,381) 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 $1,493, that implies a household income of $59,720 per year (about $4,977/month) to avoid being cost-burdened, a 2-bedroom at $1,794 lifts that threshold higher still. ZIP 98281 has a population of 1,314 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 Whatcom, FMR will be identical, the real variation comes from school quality, commute, and private-market premiums not captured in HUD data.