Dayton rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across Dayton, OH sits at $1,085/month, pulled from active rental listings in 17 zip codes. That's up 1.4% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 45440 tops the list at $1,650/month. ZIP 45406 comes in lowest at $840/month. That's a 96% 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 $995/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $790. 3-bedrooms come in around $1,250.

Listings take longer here. The average is 36 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Gross rent-to-value lands around 7.8% ($1,085/month rent on a $167,900 median price). Middle of the pack for cash-flow markets.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Dayton metro is $1,340/month. Asking rents come in about 19% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Dayton is an extremely affordable market where rent-to-price ratios look great on paper. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the biggest employer and provides a stable renter base. The Oregon District and Oakwood are premium. The west and east sides offer very low entry points. Real cash flow potential here, but like any deeply affordable market, property condition and tenant screening matter a lot. Some areas have challenged demographics and higher vacancy rates. Underwrite realistic vacancy and maintenance, not just the best-case rent number. The base provides stability. Pockets here work well for investors who go in realistic about what they're getting into.

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