12 zip codes·Updated September 2026

Columbia rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across 12 Columbia zip codes is $1,532/month, down 0.9% from a year ago.

State capital, University of South Carolina, and Fort Jackson. Three stable demand drivers that don't correlate with each other. When one's slow, the others aren't. Affordable market with built-in diversification.

Median Asking Rent

$1,532

Rent Change (YoY)

-0.9%

Avg Days on Market

Active Rental Listings

1,522

Median List Price

$245,000

Median Asking Rent Over Time

Average across 12 zip codes

12 months-1.5%

Median Asking Rent by ZIP Code

Rental Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median Rent	YoY Growth	$/Sqft	Avg DOM	Listings
29229	$1,949/mo	-1.3%	$1.18	36	168
29170	$1,750/mo	-1.4%	$1.17	21	42
29209	$1,700/mo	+2.1%	$1.20	37	163
29223	$1,650/mo	-7.0%	$1.18	45	152
29212	$1,625/mo	+3.2%	$1.28	72	56
29201	$1,600/mo	+5.3%	$1.71	54	149
29204	$1,495/mo	+3.1%	$1.42	31	78
29205	$1,450/mo	-3.3%	$1.47	37	247
29169	$1,400/mo	-17.6%	$1.34	42	80
29203	$1,300/mo	+4.0%	$1.20	37	114
29206	$1,299/mo	+1.9%	$1.16	23	88
29210	$1,210/mo	+0.8%	$1.15	42	185

Comps for any address in Columbia

Type the address, get the comps. No setup.

Median Asking Rent by Bedroom

Unit Size	Median Rent	$/Sqft
Studio	$900/mo	$2.01/sqft
1 Bedroom	$1,028/mo	$1.51/sqft
2 Bedroom	$1,263/mo	$1.28/sqft
3 Bedroom	$1,800/mo	$1.23/sqft
4 Bedroom	$2,135/mo	$1.07/sqft

Aggregated median across all Columbia zip codes with available data.

For-Sale Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median List Price	YoY Change	$/Sqft
29206	$385,000	+10.0%	$196.07
29205	$355,000	+1.4%	$228.47
29201	$295,000	+7.3%	$219.39
29229	$274,990	-1.1%	$141.89
29212	$272,000	-4.5%	$150.17
29170	$264,000	+3.5%	$148.11
29209	$245,000	0.0%	$134.61
29169	$239,999	-7.7%	$157.79
29223	$225,000	-6.3%	$141.79
29204	$212,500	+3.7%	$171.69
29210	$199,999	-4.3%	$124.37
29203	$180,500	+1.7%	$139.46
29208	$15,000	N/A	N/A

HUD Fair Market Rents

Unit Size	Fair Market Rent	Median Asking Rent	Difference
Studio	$1,390/mo	$900/mo	-35%
1 Bedroom	$1,570/mo	$1,028/mo	-35%
2 Bedroom	$1,720/mo	$1,263/mo	-27%
3 Bedroom	$2,190/mo	$1,800/mo	-18%
4 Bedroom	$2,580/mo	$2,135/mo	-17%

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

Richland County FMR page Section 8 vs market rent

About the Columbia rental market

The median asking rent across Columbia, SC sits at $1,532/month, pulled from active rental listings in 12 zip codes. That's down 0.9% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 29229 tops the list at $1,949/month. ZIP 29210 comes in lowest at $1,210/month. That's a 61% 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 $1,263/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $1,028. 3-bedrooms come in around $1,800.

Listings take longer here. The average is 40 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Gross rent-to-value lands around 7.5% ($1,532/month rent on a $245,000 median price). Middle of the pack for cash-flow markets.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Columbia metro is $1,720/month. Asking rents come in about 11% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Columbia runs on three engines: state capital (government jobs), University of South Carolina (student renters and university employment), and Fort Jackson (the Army's largest basic training installation). That mix gives you multiple renter populations that don't move together. The Vista, Five Points, and Shandon are premium. West Columbia and the northeast side are cheaper. South Carolina stays landlord-friendly. Not glamorous, but demand is consistent and entry points are low. Quietly works for investors focused on steady cash flow over appreciation.

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