Region · Census Mountain division · West
Mountain rental markets
The interior Mountain West. 8 states and 154 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
Mountain ranks #3 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 52.6/100 across its ranked cities, above the national median. 8 states make up this division.
A region grade is the median of its ranked cities, a screen for where to look, not underwriting. Open any city below for its full shown-math breakdown, or run a specific deal through the cap rate and cash-flow calculators.
Where it ranks, factor by factor
Every value is the median across the 154 ranked cities in this region. The national rank compares all 9 regions on that one factor; the engine already flips inverted factors (affordability, low unemployment) so a better rank always means a better market. Each factor sits in one of the model’s three categories (Cash Flow, Growth, or Stability); this is a representative summary, and the full thirteen-factor breakdown is on each city’s page. Full methodology.
| Factor | Category | Region value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 4.6% | not measured |
| Rent growth | Growth | 2.9% | not measured |
| Home value growth | Growth | 3.5% | not measured |
| Population growth | Growth | 1.3% | not measured |
| Job growth | Growth | 2.0% | not measured |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.7× | not measured |
| Unemployment | Stability | 3.5% | not measured |
| Rental demand | Stability | 37% renters · 503.3% vacancy | not measured |
| Income growth | Growth | 6.5% | not measured |
States in the Mountain division
Ranked by median Overall across each state's ranked cities. Each links to its full state analysis, and from there to its cities.
| Div rank | State | Overall score | Grade | Gross yield | Home-value growth | Price-to-income | Ranked cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #6 | Arizona | 56.3 | B | 4.7% | 3.2% | 5.5× | 32 |
| #7 | Idaho | 56.3 | B | 4.3% | 5.1% | 6.3× | 14 |
| #12 | Utah | 54.5 | B | 3.9% | 4.8% | 5.9× | 44 |
| #16 | Colorado | 52 | B | 4.4% | 1.8% | 5.8× | 32 |
| #18 | Nevada | 51.5 | B | 4.8% | 4.3% | 6.0× | 9 |
| #20 | New Mexico | 50.8 | B | 5.8% | 4.0% | 5.1× | 11 |
| #33 | Montana | 44.4 | C | 4.0% | 5.1% | 6.9× | 7 |
| #46 | Wyoming | 35.7 | D | 4.7% | 3.4% | 4.9× | 5 |
Data as of: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI through the latest monthly release · Census ACS 5-yr 2019–2023 · Census PEP July 2024 · BLS LAUS county 2023 annual. Generated 2026-09-01. Methodology & limitations · underwrite any specific deal with the free calculators.