Average Rent in the District of Columbia (2026) — HUD Fair Market Rents
HUD's FY 2026 Fair Market Rent puts the typical two-bedroom rent in the District of Columbia at $2,246 per month (studio $1,953, 4-bedroom $3,332).
Fair Market Rent is HUD's annual estimate of what a modest rental costs in each local market — the 40th percentile of gross rents (rent plus tenant-paid utilities) for recent movers, published for studio through four-bedroom units and used to set Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher payment standards. FMRs are a federal benchmark, not an asking-rent average: use them to sanity-check your pricing (statewide, the District of Columbia's typical two-bedroom FMR moved -2.9% versus FY 2025).
The District of Columbia FMR area
| Area | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR | 2 BR vs FY 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area Metro | $1,953 | $2,015 | $2,246 | $2,835 | $3,332 | -2.9% |
Download this table as CSV — every area, studio through 4-bedroom, with county lists and year-over-year change.
About this data
Source: HUD FY 2026 Fair Market Rents, county-level file (revised), published at huduser.gov — a U.S. government work in the public domain, republished here unmodified. The typical-rent figure is the population-weighted average across the areas above (county populations from HUD's file); year-over-year comparisons match each area with last year's file by HUD area code. Effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026; last regenerated from HUD's file on 2026-07-20. FMRs cap what a housing authority can pay under the voucher program; your local Public Housing Authority's payment standard may be set between 90% and 110% of FMR. Full method notes: how the rent figures are computed.
Related on Landlord Atlas
- Rental profitability calculator — test a District of Columbia property's cash flow against its county's FMR.
- Rent increase notice creator — moving rent toward market? Generate a state-aware notice.