17 zip codes·Updated September 2026

Birmingham rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across 17 Birmingham zip codes is $1,211/month, down 4.4% from a year ago.

Affordable entry, solid cash flow, healthcare-driven economy, and one of the most landlord-friendly regulatory environments in the country. Alabama keeps the rules simple and the barrier to entry low. Hard to argue with that combination.

Median Asking Rent

$1,211

Rent Change (YoY)

-4.4%

Avg Days on Market

Active Rental Listings

1,428

Median List Price

$165,000

Median Asking Rent Over Time

Average across 17 zip codes

12 months-8.6%

Median Asking Rent by ZIP Code

Rental Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median Rent	YoY Growth	$/Sqft	Avg DOM	Listings
35210	$1,945/mo	-1.8%	$1.77	21	59
35203	$1,845/mo	-2.9%	$2.00	93	29
35216	$1,605/mo	-4.2%	$1.24	45	78
35235	$1,500/mo	+9.1%	$1.04	29	89
35213	$1,475/mo	-41.0%	$1.47	27	21
35209	$1,400/mo	-17.4%	$1.40	55	81
35215	$1,265/mo	+1.2%	$0.99	36	199
35211	$1,150/mo	+4.5%	$0.96	28	115
35214	$1,150/mo	0.0%	$0.94	33	57
35222	$1,150/mo	-8.0%	$1.53	87	42
35208	$1,075/mo	-2.3%	$0.88	27	119
35207	$999/mo	-0.1%	$0.84	31	18
35205	$995/mo	-4.6%	$1.58	114	247
35212	$995/mo	-15.3%	$1.03	38	42
35217	$985/mo	-8.4%	$0.80	15	68
35206	$980/mo	-2.0%	$0.93	42	128
35204	$950/mo	+18.8%	$1.08	40	36

Comps for any address in Birmingham

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Median Asking Rent by Bedroom

Unit Size	Median Rent	$/Sqft
Studio	$913/mo	$1.89/sqft
1 Bedroom	$900/mo	$1.33/sqft
2 Bedroom	$1,000/mo	$1.01/sqft
3 Bedroom	$1,280/mo	$1.05/sqft
4 Bedroom	$1,485/mo	$0.90/sqft

Aggregated median across all Birmingham zip codes with available data.

For-Sale Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median List Price	YoY Change	$/Sqft
35213	$489,900	-15.4%	$287.46
35209	$399,900	-9.1%	$259.35
35222	$374,900	-0.0%	$218.48
35203	$329,900	-2.3%	$310.94
35210	$309,000	+10.8%	$191.78
35216	$300,000	-13.4%	$185.19
35205	$284,900	-12.3%	$207.03
35235	$179,000	-8.2%	$111.32
35212	$165,000	-13.1%	$136.91
35215	$134,900	-10.1%	$100.30
35214	$110,000	-8.3%	$98.41
35206	$109,900	-14.8%	$94.06
35208	$99,900	-4.9%	$65.57
35211	$94,000	-6.0%	$77.69
35204	$83,500	-27.4%	$65.28
35217	$80,000	-5.8%	$79.46
35207	$55,000	-16.0%	$51.52

HUD Fair Market Rents

Unit Size	Fair Market Rent	Median Asking Rent	Difference
Studio	$820/mo	$913/mo	+11%
1 Bedroom	$930/mo	$900/mo	-3%
2 Bedroom	$1,020/mo	$1,000/mo	-2%
3 Bedroom	$1,280/mo	$1,280/mo	0%
4 Bedroom	$1,450/mo	$1,485/mo	+2%

HUD publishes Fair Market Rents once a year for the Birmingham metro area. Local housing authorities use them to set Section 8 voucher payment standards, usually 90% to 110% of the FMR.

Jefferson County FMR page Section 8 vs market rent

About the Birmingham rental market

The median asking rent across Birmingham, AL sits at $1,211/month, pulled from active rental listings in 17 zip codes. That's down 4.4% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 35210 tops the list at $1,945/month. ZIP 35204 comes in lowest at $950/month. That's a 105% spread between the top and bottom zip codes, which is wide. City-wide averages won't tell you much about a specific property here.

A 2-bedroom rents for $1,000/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $900. 3-bedrooms come in around $1,280.

Listings take longer here. The average is 45 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Gross rent-to-value lands around 8.8% ($1,211/month rent on a $165,000 median price). Middle of the pack for cash-flow markets.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Birmingham metro is $1,020/month. City-wide asking rents run about 19% above that. Section 8 vouchers in this area often don't cover market rent without an exception payment standard.

Birmingham is a cash flow market that more investors have discovered. Healthcare dominates. UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) is the largest employer in the state and one of the biggest academic medical centers in the Southeast. Alabama is landlord-friendly from a regulatory standpoint. Homewood, Mountain Brook, and the Lakeview District are premium. Ensley, Woodlawn, and parts of the west side have the best price-to-rent ratios. Less saturated with out-of-state investors than Memphis, which can mean more opportunity to find underpriced properties. Low entry points plus a stable healthcare employment base. Worth a look if you want Southeast cash flow without Florida insurance headaches.

These numbers are city-wide averages. If you're pricing a specific property in Birmingham, pull comps from the same zip code. The spread is usually bigger than people expect.