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A HUD SAFMR is the ZIP-code Fair Market Rent. Voucher payment standards in a designated metro use that ZIP figure, a 40th percentile gross rent.
By RentalAnalytics Editorial Team · Published September 30, 2026
A HUD SAFMR is a Small Area Fair Market Rent: the Fair Market Rent HUD publishes for one ZIP code. Fair Market Rents, as defined in 24 CFR 888.113, are estimates of 40th percentile gross rents for standard quality units. In a designated SAFMR metro, the Housing Choice Voucher uses that ZIP schedule. Elsewhere the voucher uses the metropolitan Fair Market Rent, or the nonmetropolitan county Fair Market Rent.
HUD requires Small Area FMRs for Housing Choice Voucher administration in 65 metropolitan areas. A 2023 notice added 41 of those areas, including Fort Wayne, IN, with an implementation date of October 1, 2024. Once HUD designates a metropolitan area, it remains under SAFMRs permanently. Tenant-based vouchers in a designated area use the ZIP SAFMR. A basic-range payment standard is anywhere from 90 percent to 110 percent of that figure, with no extra HUD approval.
For FY2026, ZIP 46835 in Fort Wayne sits above the metro row. The 2-bedroom SAFMR is $1,230 and the metro 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,113. Studio is $990 versus $892, 1 bedroom is $1,010 versus $916, 3 bedrooms is $1,530 versus $1,381, and 4 bedrooms is $1,670 versus $1,512. This site retrieved that sample on August 27, 2026. Fort Wayne was not in the seven-area revision effective May 21, 2026. Neither dollar is the payment standard until the agency sets its percentage, and neither dollar is market rent.
Austin metro HUD rental rates show the metro Fair Market Rent next to the Census median. Nashville ZIP HUD rent range shows the ZIP span next to the Census median and the metro Fair Market Rent. Dallas HUD rental rates by ZIP code show one metro ZIP range next to the metro Fair Market Rent.
Read the voucher figure and the market figure in separate columns
The FY2026 2-bedroom SAFMR for ZIP 46835 is $1,230. The Fort Wayne metro 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,113. Open the rent estimator and read the 40th / voucher label beside the market blend.
A payment standard is the dollar ceiling a public housing agency uses to calculate the monthly housing assistance payment. It is not the rent you advertise, and it is not the market blend on this site.
HUD builds the base with Fair Market Rent. The FMR dataset page states: "Fair Market Rents, as defined in 24 CFR 888.113 are estimates of 40th percentile gross rents for standard quality units within a metropolitan area or nonmetropolitan county."[2] Gross rent means rent plus utilities. Forty percent of that standard-quality stock rents for less. That is a voucher anchor, not a private asking rent.
The agency then sets the payment standard. Under 24 CFR 982.503, a basic-range amount is anywhere from 90 percent up to 110 percent of the published FMR for that unit size, with no extra HUD approval. Above 110 percent is an exception standard. Below 90 percent needs HUD approval.[5] Sitting at 110 percent of FMR still does not make the schedule market rent.
The ZIP code replaces the metro FMR when HUD has designated the metro for Small Area FMRs, or when the agency has opted in. In those places, 24 CFR 982.503 says the applicable FMR is the HUD-published Small Area FMR. Elsewhere it is the metropolitan FMR, or the nonmetropolitan county FMR.[5]
HUD's Small Area Fair Market Rents page says SAFMR use is required for Housing Choice Voucher administration in 65 metropolitan areas. The same page describes notice FR-6426-N-01 as the expansion to 41 additional metropolitan areas with an implementation date of October 1, 2024.[1] Notice PIH 2023-32 states: "Once a Metropolitan Area is designated by HUD as an SAFMR area, it will remain under SAFMRs permanently."[3]
Tenant-based vouchers in a designated area must use SAFMRs. Project-based vouchers may use them. An agency outside a designated area can opt in, or set a ZIP exception up to 110 percent of that ZIP's SAFMR.[3][4][5]
ZIP 46835 uses a Small Area FMR because Fort Wayne is one of the 41 areas HUD designated in 2023. Notice PIH 2023-32 lists "Fort Wayne, IN MSA" under mandatory areas for 2024. The October 25, 2023 notice, 88 FR 73352, sets the implementation date at October 1, 2024 and says the designations are permanent.[3][4]
A metro FMR is one schedule for bedrooms 0 through 4 for the whole Fort Wayne, IN HUD Metro FMR Area. The SAFMR is a separate schedule for each ZIP. Pasting the metro row into a 46835 voucher conversation uses the wrong ceiling.
The dollars below are FY2026 40th-percentile gross rents, not market rent. The metro row is the area FMR on this site's methodology page. The 46835 row is this site's Small Area sample, retrieved August 27, 2026. Fort Wayne was not in the seven-area revision effective May 21, 2026.[6]
| Bedrooms | Fort Wayne metro FMR (FY2026) | ZIP 46835 SAFMR (FY2026) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | $892 | $990 |
| 1 | $916 | $1,010 |
| 2 | $1,113 | $1,230 |
| 3 | $1,381 | $1,530 |
| 4 | $1,512 | $1,670 |
Read the table as a voucher comparison only. The FY2026 2-bedroom SAFMR in 46835 is $1,230. The metro-wide 2-bedroom FMR is $1,113. Neither dollar is market rent, and neither is the payment standard until the agency sets its percentage.
Voucher rent is a program ceiling. Market rent, on this site, is a statistical median for a private lease. Keep them in different columns.
HUD's 50th-percentile page states, in capital letters, "THESE ARE NOT FAIR MARKET RENTS."[7] This site's market blend starts from that FY2026 50th-percentile rent, scaled onto the ZIP FMR or Small Area FMR, plus Census ACS 2024 5-year table B25031 as a second occupied-unit anchor. The rent estimator labels FMR or SAFMR as 40th / voucher and keeps the blend as the hero.
The SAFMR says what gross-rent schedule the voucher ceiling is built from in that ZIP. The blend says what public-data median to underwrite before you open listings. A unit can clear a payment standard and still be the wrong price for an unassisted tenant.
Keep two rent columns. The voucher test does not replace the market test.
If the payment standard cannot support the rent you need, a voucher holder may not lease at that price. That is a leasing limit. It is not a reason to underwrite the deal at the 40th percentile. Price to the rent you can collect, and treat the voucher as a second test. FY2026 file dates are in HUD FY2026 FMR: what changed.
A HUD SAFMR is a Small Area Fair Market Rent for one ZIP code. HUD defines Fair Market Rents as 40th percentile gross rents. In a designated metro, the Housing Choice Voucher uses the ZIP schedule instead of the metro Fair Market Rent.
HUD requires Small Area FMRs for Housing Choice Voucher administration in 65 metropolitan areas. A 2023 notice added 41 of those areas, including Fort Wayne, IN, with an implementation date of October 1, 2024. A designated area stays on SAFMRs permanently.
The 2-bedroom SAFMR is $1,230. The Fort Wayne metro 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,113. Studio is $990 versus $892, 1-bedroom is $1,010 versus $916, 3-bedroom is $1,530 versus $1,381, and 4-bedroom is $1,670 versus $1,512.
No. A SAFMR is a 40th percentile gross rent used to build a voucher payment standard. The basic range is 90 percent to 110 percent of that figure. On this site, market rent is a separate HUD FY2026 50th percentile plus Census ACS blend.
A basic-range payment standard is 90 percent to 110 percent of the applicable FMR or SAFMR, with no extra HUD approval. Above 110 percent is an exception standard. Below 90 percent needs HUD approval.
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