Denver rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across Denver, CO sits at $1,581/month, pulled from active rental listings in 17 zip codes. That's down 10.2% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 80238 tops the list at $2,946/month. ZIP 80203 comes in lowest at $1,150/month. That's a 156% 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 $2,075/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $1,300. 3-bedrooms come in around $3,100.

Average days on market sits at 30 days. Pace is steady.

Rent-to-price math is tight in Denver. The gross figure sits at about 3.2% ($1,581/month against $600,000 median price). Most investors here are betting on appreciation, not monthly cash flow.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Denver metro is $3,030/month. Asking rents come in about 48% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Denver attracts a young, educated workforce that wants to be near the mountains. Tech has grown significantly here over the past decade. Supply hasn't kept up with demand, which is the renter's problem and the landlord's opportunity. Vacancy stays low. Capitol Hill, RiNo, and LoDo are premium. Aurora and the west corridor are moderate. Rent-to-income ratios here are already stretched, so tenants are unusually price-sensitive. Overprice by $100 a month and you sit empty. Price it right and you lease in a week. The margin for error is thin.

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