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Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and Payment Standards

Our Rental Assistance Voucher programs use Fair Market Rents to help set the Payment Standards the different voucher programs.

What are Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and how are they used?

FMRs are regularly published by HUD, and represent the cost to rent a moderately-priced dwelling unit (40th percentile) in a local housing market.

What are Payment Standards and how are they used?

Payment Standard are the maximum monthly assistance payment for a family assisted in the voucher program (before deducting the total tenant payment by the family). HUD allows Homes for Good and other Public Housing Authorities to set the Payment Standards for various voucher programs between 90% to 110% FMR. Whenever the FMR increases or decreases, Homes for Good ensures that its payment standards remain within the 90% to 110% range.

How does Homes for Good decide on what Payment Standard to set?

HUD requires Homes for Good to assess “rent burden” in setting Payment Standards. Rent burden is determined by answering the question, “how many families are paying more than 31% of their adjusted gross income towards rent?” If the answer is, “more than 41% of families for a particular bedroom size”, then HUD requires Homes for Good to increase the Payment Standard for that bedroom size.

Other factors that influence how Payment Standard are set include populations being served with the voucher, and the number of families with vouchers who are able to secure housing. For example, VASH vouchers serve families that are homeless. It can be difficult to obtain housing when you are homeless, and in turn the payment standard for VASH is set at a higher amount.

How do I use this information in my Housing Search?

The payment standard is a part of the calculation worksheet that every voucher holder family is provided. The payment standard is added to a portion of the family’s income. These two numbers combined create the total amount the family can budget for when looking for housing. This number varies from family to family.

2025 Fair Market Rents
Effective October 1st, 2024
SRO 0 BR 1 BR 2 BR 3 BR 4 BR 5 BR 6 BR 7 BR
$795 $1,060 $1,140 $1,495 $2,095 $2,510 $2,887 $3,263 $3,640
2025 Payment Standards for: Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), Project Based Vouchers (PBV), Mainstream (MS) Vouchers, and Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Vouchers
Effective January 1, 2025
SRO 0 BR 1 BR 2 BR 3 BR 4 BR 5 BR 6 BR 7 BR
$716 $954 $1,026 $1,346 $1,886 $2,410 $2,599 $2,937 $3,276
2025 Payment Standards for: Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Vouchers and Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV)
Effective January 1, 2025
SRO 0 BR 1 BR 2 BR 3 BR 4 BR 5 BR 6 BR 7 BR
$954 $1,272 $1,368 $1,794 $2,514 $3,012 $3,464 $3,915 $4,368
2024 Payment Standards for: Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), Project Based Vouchers (PBV), Mainstream (MS) Vouchers, and Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Vouchers
Effective January 1, 2024
SRO 0 BR 1 BR 2 BR 3 BR 4 BR 5 BR 6 BR 7 BR
$644 $858 $957 $1,258 $1,773 $2,134 $2,455 $2,774 $3,095
2024 Payment Standards for: Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Vouchers and Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV)
Effective January 1, 2024
SRO 0 BR 1 BR 2 BR 3 BR 4 BR 5 BR 6 BR 7 BR
$858 $1,143 $1,275 $1,676 $2,362 $2,845 $3,272 $3,698 $4,125