The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development establishes Fair Market Rents (FMRs) in connection with its housing assistance programs. FMRs are gross rent estimates; they include shelter rent and the cost of utilities, except telephone. Rents in Kansas City are about the same as the unweighted average of all metro areas.

FMRs are set as a percentile point within the rent distribution of standard quality rental housing units. The current definition used for most areas is the 40th percentile, the dollar amount below which 40% of standard quality rental housing units rent. The 40th percentile rent is drawn from the distribution of rents of units which are occupied by recent movers (within the past 15 months). For some metros, HUD employs the 50th percentile rent. Newly built units less than two years old are excluded, and adjustments have been made to correct for the below market rents of public housing units in the data base.

Metro	1 Bedroom	2 Bedrooms	3 Bedrooms
Albuquerque	$505	$632	$871
Atlanta	720	839	1,119
Austin	645	858	1,192
Baltimore	542	661	875
Birmingham	454	528	717
Boston	782	979	1,223
Charlotte	585	659	869
Chicago	711	848	1,060
Cincinnati	416	557	746
Cleveland	555	687	874
Colorado Springs	486	647	902
Columbus	471	605	768
Dallas	647	830	1,148
Denver	625	832	1,154
Des Moines	458	565	733
Detroit	598	723	904
Fresno	433	517	720
Ft. Wayne	414	515	664
Houston	529	684	954
Indianapolis	465	559	700
Jacksonville	530	638	843
KANSAS CITY	526	633	875
Las Vegas	636	757	1,054
Lawrence	432	554	771
Little Rock	424	504	697
Los Angeles	618	782	1,055
Louisville	415	510	703
Memphis	462	542	753
Milwaukee	504	633	794
Minneapolis	580	742	1,004
Nashville	520	641	873
New York	836	949	1,187
Norfolk	535	632	882
Oklahoma City	422	547	760
Omaha	469	593	777
Orange County	845	1,046	1,455
Orlando	582	694	911
Philadelphia	657	812	1,016
Phoenix	544	683	950
Pittsburgh	476	574	719
Raleigh-Durham	643	755	1,013
Saint Joseph	302	403	509
Saint Louis	429	556	724
Salt Lake City	550	698	971
San Antonio	461	596	829
San Diego	716	896	1,247
San Francisco	1,154	1,459	2,001
Seattle	639	809	1,123
Springfield	345	446	616
Tampa	557	690	917
Tucson	470	625	869
Tulsa	427	559	778
Washington	773	907	1,236
Wichita	424	567	767
United States	481	599	797

Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development