Baton Rouge, LA
Photo: Spatms · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons · Wikipedia

Rental market · Baton Rouge, LA · Incorporated city

Baton Rouge, LA: average rent, home values, and rental yield

West South Central · Population 223,699

F31.6
#1,614 of 1,863 ranked markets
Overall Score 31.6 · stronger than 13% of ranked markets

How Baton Rouge ranks nationally

Each bar places Baton Rouge against all 1,863 ranked U.S. markets: the marker is this city and further right is more favorable to an investor; the tick marks the national median. Inverted measures (crime, vacancy, price-to-income) are already flipped so higher always means better here.

Overall Scorethe flagship rank
31.613th percentile
Cash Flowyield & affordability
7377th percentile
Growthpopulation, jobs, income
131st percentile
Stabilitycrime, vacancy, unemployment
3518th percentile
Expense-adjusted yield4.1% net of costs
8484th percentile
Affordabilityprice-to-income 4.7×
53more affordable than 53%
Rental vacancy10.2% vacant
6tighter than 6%
Population growth-0.4%/yr (capped)
1111th percentile
Job growth0.1%/yr (capped)
1616th percentile
← Less favorableMedianMore favorable →

What a deal looks like here

A market-level buy-box for Baton Rouge, built from this market's own numbers: the investor-entry price, its rent, and local carrying costs. An illustrative scenario, not a listing.

Target buy price
$117,872
Expected rent
$1,377 /mo
Rent-to-price
1.17%
Cap rate
9.7%
Cash-on-cash
13.3% at 25% dn
DSCR
1.62

At 25% down and 7%, this representative scenario runs positive (about $365/mo cash flow) on the investor-entry price.

Buy target = Zillow Bottom-Tier ZHVI (5th–35th percentile) $117,872; typical home value $233,136. Rent = Zillow ZORI typical asking rent. Assumptions: 25% down, 7% / 30-yr, 5% vacancy, 8% management, 5% maintenance, 5% capex, 0.5% insurance, 0.60% property tax. Illustrative market-level scenario: not a listing, appraisal, recommendation, or underwriting decision. As of 2026-07-10.

Market Negotiation Leverage

Some buyer leverage (63rd percentile among 2,222 cities with Redfin coverage)

Equal-weight composite of three Redfin signals’ national percentiles (days on market 31, months of supply 3.8, sale-to-list 98.2%), direction-adjusted so a higher percentile always means more room for a buyer to negotiate. This is a cross-sectional snapshot against every other tracked city today, not a seasonal or historical baseline for this specific city (no multi-year time series is committed for this data). Not a prediction of what any specific seller will accept. Source: Redfin Data Center. See how this is calculated.

Measured market data

Measured observations for Baton Rouge, shown as context beside the market score (none of it feeds the score), and the model weights are unchanged. These are different measurements from the Census figures in the factor table: the ACS median value is what owners report in a 5-year survey, while ZHVI is a monthly index of typical value; ACS median gross rent is what sitting tenants pay including utilities, while ZORI indexes asking rent on newly listed units. Neither corrects the other. Monthly series, revised in recent months, observed 2026-07, not live.

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI, mid tier)$233,136
ZHVI bottom tier (5th–35th pct)$117,872
ZHVI top tier (65th–95th pct)$428,904
ZHVI, single-family only$243,426
Zillow asking-rent index (ZORI)$1,377/mo
Measured gross yield (ZORI × 12 ÷ ZHVI)7.09%
Market heat index46
Median days to pending27
Share of listings with a price cut26.0%
Median sale-to-list ratio98.7%
For-sale inventory1,755
New listings421
Median list price$260,000
Median sale price$258,000
Measured 3-yr value growth0.46%/yr
Measured 5-yr value growth2.34%/yr
Measured 3-yr rent growth2.31%/yr
Price–rent divergence (value − rent growth)-1.86%/yr
ZHVI, 1-bedroom$98,069
ZHVI, 2-bedroom$146,945
ZHVI, 3-bedroom$240,159
ZHVI, 4-bedroom$376,960
ZHVI, 5-bedroom$592,912

Source: Zillow Economic Research public research data, observation month 2026-07. Zillow is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Compounding Estates.

Typical home value $233,136 Median rent $1,377/mo Population 223,699 Region West South Central

Price & rent history

Home value $132,981 → $233,136 (2002-04–2026-07) · Asking rent $997 → $1,377 (2015-01–2026-07)

Source: Zillow ZHVI (home value) and ZORI (asking rent) - monthly resolution for the last ~10 years (since 2016-08), quarterly before that. Home value uses the left axis, rent the right; toggle either series, change the range, hover to read any point. Gaps in the source series are left as gaps - never interpolated.

ZIP markets in Baton Rouge

19 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) officially overlap Baton Rouge by land area · 14 data-eligible for subscores. Overlap is Census land-area share, not a population or address share. Each ZIP Code's overall Rental Investor ZIP Score, grade and canonical national rank are shown below (the two component signals, affordability and rental market, are separate percentiles). There is no city-scoped ZIP rank: city overlap isn't a ranking universe, so only the national rank is shown. These ZIP rankings sit in the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, Baton Rouge's city ranking. Vintage: the Key metric column below is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), a full survey release newer than the ACS 2019–2023 figures used above for Baton Rouge itself, so the same measure can legitimately show a different number at the city and ZIP level.

ZIP CodeOverallgrade · natl rankTier · overlapAffordabilitysignal · natl rankRental marketsignal · natl rankKey metric
70801Baton Rouge ProfilePrimary $2k/moMedian rent
70802Baton Rouge D 37#14,204 nat RankedPrimary 98#26 of 20,132 · top 1% 55#7,277 of 20,132 · top 36% 11.7%Survey yield
70803Baton Rouge ProfilePrimary
70805Baton Rouge D 35#14,850 nat RankedPrimary 96#91 of 20,132 · top 1% 56#6,856 of 20,132 · top 34% 9.2%Survey yield
70806Baton Rouge F 28#17,154 nat RankedPrimary 49#10,132 of 20,132 · bottom 50% 54#8,048 of 20,132 · top 40% 3.8%Survey yield
70808Baton Rouge F 28#17,189 nat RankedPrimary 46#11,401 of 20,132 · bottom 43% 47#11,233 of 20,132 · bottom 44% 4.0%Survey yield
70813Baton Rouge LimitedPrimary
70815Baton Rouge D 31#16,095 nat RankedPrimary 66#3,895 of 20,132 · top 19% 43#12,620 of 20,132 · bottom 37% 5.7%Survey yield
70825Baton Rouge LimitedPrimary
70836Baton Rouge ProfilePrimary $1k/moMedian rent
70816Baton Rouge D 38#13,777 nat RankedPrimary 67#3,661 of 20,132 · top 18% 55#7,576 of 20,132 · top 38% 5.7%Survey yield
70807Baton Rouge D 33#15,407 nat RankedPrimary 96#82 of 20,132 · top 1% 66#3,255 of 20,132 · top 16% 9.3%Survey yield
View all 19 ZIP markets in Baton Rouge →

The honest read

Baton Rouge scores 32/100 overall (grade F): 73 for Cash Flow, 13 for Growth, and 35 for Stability, each a 0–100 score built from the factors in that category. The scenario above shows what a representative investor-entry purchase pencils out to at today's rates. Everything we can measure is in the table below, with its source.

Every factor, shown

The Overall score blends three category scores built from thirteen measured factors: Cash Flow (35%), Growth (35%), and Stability (30%). The table shows every factor; the tag on each percentile marks which category a scored factor feeds. Untagged factors are shown for context but not scored. Every value carries its source and as-of date. How the score works.

FactorValueNational percentileSource · as-ofWhat it means
Expense-adjusted yield4.1%84th percentile · Cash FlowZillow ZORI/ZHVI · 2026-07-31Annual rent divided by price, net of a modeled vacancy, tax, capex, and management allowance: the core of the Cash Flow category and what the score is actually computed from. The unadjusted gross yield is shown elsewhere on this page.
Price to income4.7x53rd percentile · Cash FlowZillow + ACS income · 2026-07-31Home price over local median income. Lower is cheaper relative to what people earn. Part of the Cash Flow category.
Population growth-0.4%/yr11th percentile · GrowthCensus PEP · Census PEP 2020→2024 (vintage 2024) + Census PEP 2014→2024 (vintages 2019+2024)Census population trend for the place, capped at 4.5%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate): the heaviest factor in the Growth category.
Job growth0.1%/yr16th percentile · GrowthBLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2019→2023 (pre-COVID anchor) + BLS LAUS county annual 2013→2023County employment trend, capped at 4.0%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate). A Growth-category factor.
Income growth2.9%/yr7th percentile · GrowthCensus ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023Local median-income trend. A Growth-category factor.
Rent growth2.6%/yr19th percentile · GrowthZillow ZORI · 3yr + 10yr to 2026-07-31A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year rent trend (the model's own weighting). A Growth-category factor.
Home-value growth1.8%/yr5th percentile · GrowthZillow ZHVI · 3yr + 10yr to 2026-07-31A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year price trend (the model's own weighting). A small Growth-category factor.
Unemployment3.7%40th percentile · StabilityBLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2023County unemployment rate. Lower is steadier, a Stability-category factor.
Rental vacancy10.2%6th percentile · StabilityCensus ACS B25004 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023Share of rentals empty. Lower means more pricing power. A Stability-category factor.
Property tax rate0.6%87th percentile · StabilityCensus ACS B25103/B25077 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023Median tax over median value. A direct drag on cash flow, scored in the Stability category as carrying-cost burden.
Months of supply3.8 mo25th percentile · StabilityRedfin Data Center · 2026-05-01Listings over sales pace. Under about 4 is a seller market, over 6 a buyer market. A Stability-category factor.
Days on market31 days60th percentileRedfin Data Center · 2026-05-01How fast homes sell. Lower means more liquidity and an easier exit. Shown for context, not scored.
Sale-to-list ratio98.2%25th percentileRedfin Data Center · 2026-05-01Sale price over asking. Above 100% means homes clear over ask. Shown for context, not scored.
Net domestic migration-6.8/1k24th percentileCensus PEP (county) · PEP vintage 2024Net people moving in or out of the county, per 1,000 residents. Shown for context, not scored.
Building permits9.9/1k57th percentileCensus BPS (county) · BPS 2023New-construction permits per 1,000 homes. More means more supply coming. Shown for context, not scored.
Rent burden35%16th percentileCensus ACS B25071 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023Median rent as a share of income. Higher means less headroom for increases. Shown for context, not scored.
Median year built197540th percentileCensus ACS B25035 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023Age of the housing stock. Older stock carries more capex. Shown for context, not scored.
Max drawdown12%76th percentileZillow ZHVI · 2026-07-31Worst peak-to-trough home-value decline on record. Shown for context, not scored.
Violent crimenot reported-FBI CDENo agency reported this place to the FBI. We never impute a crime number; where it is missing, the Stability category renormalizes over its remaining factors.

Related cities

Nearby in the Louisiana rankings · all Louisiana cities

Similar overall grade, elsewhere in the country

Compare Baton Rouge head-to-head

Side by side, the three category scores plus every measured column with sources - the same shown math as this page.

Underwrite a Baton Rouge deal

For learning, not advice. A market screen from public data - not a forecast, not underwriting, not a recommendation to buy anywhere.