Region · Census South Atlantic division · South
South Atlantic rental markets
The Atlantic-coast South from Delaware to Florida. 9 states and 288 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
South Atlantic ranks #1 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 56.5/100 across its ranked cities, above the national median. 9 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 288 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 | 6.3% | not measured |
| Rent growth | Growth | 3.5% | not measured |
| Home value growth | Growth | 3.4% | not measured |
| Population growth | Growth | 1.3% | not measured |
| Job growth | Growth | 1.5% | not measured |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 5.2× | not measured |
| Unemployment | Stability | 3.1% | not measured |
| Rental demand | Stability | 44% renters · 677.5% vacancy | not measured |
| Income growth | Growth | 6.0% | not measured |
States in the South Atlantic 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | South Carolina | 62.6 | A | 6.0% | 4.3% | 5.1× | 26 |
| #4 | Florida | 58.8 | A | 6.8% | 2.8% | 5.7× | 112 |
| #10 | Georgia | 55.4 | B | 6.2% | 4.4% | 4.7× | 52 |
| #11 | North Carolina | 55 | B | 5.5% | 3.9% | 4.9× | 47 |
| #14 | Delaware | 52.2 | B | 6.3% | 4.3% | 5.6× | 4 |
| #23 | Virginia | 50.2 | C | 5.8% | 4.2% | 5.1× | 28 |
| #30 | West Virginia | 45.4 | C | 8.2% | 3.8% | 3.7× | 5 |
| #34 | Maryland | 43.1 | D | 8.6% | 2.9% | 4.0× | 13 |
| #35 | District of Columbia | 43 | D | 5.3% | -0.7% | 5.4× | 1 |
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.