The 2 bedroom fair market rent in Saint Cloud (Stearns County) is $1,520 for FY2026, and typical market asking rent is $1,231. Rents here moved +4.1 percent year over year. ZIP 56304 sits in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI area.
| Unit size | FY2026 FMR | Vs FY2025 | ACS median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,100 | +3.8% | |
| 1 bedroom | $1,250 | +4.2% | |
| 2 bedroom | $1,520 | +4.1% | |
| 3 bedroom | $2,020 | +2.5% | |
| 4 bedroom | $2,270 | +1.3% |
FMR is the HUD Fair Market Rent for this ZIP, the 40th percentile of gross rents. It anchors Section 8 payment standards and runs below top of market. ACS median is the Census survey estimate where available.
Market asking rent sits about $289 below the 2 bedroom FMR. That usually means the Zillow index skews to smaller or older stock in this ZIP, or supply is soft. Underwrite from actual comps, not the FMR.
Zillow ZORI is a smoothed index of asking rents across all unit sizes. HUD FMR is a 2 bedroom 40th percentile estimate. They measure different things, so treat the spread as a signal, not a price.
The HUD fair market rent for a 2 bedroom in ZIP 56304 is $1,520 for FY2026. Typical market asking rent is around $1,231 per Zillow as of 2026-05. Actual rents vary by unit size, condition, and location within the ZIP.
The 2 bedroom fair market rent rose 4.1 percent from FY2025 to FY2026, moving from $1,460 to $1,520.
Fair Market Rent is HUD's estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for a ZIP. It sets Section 8 payment standards, so it is the rent a voucher will support here. Investors use it as a conservative floor when underwriting rental income.
Rent level is only one input. Run the numbers: at $1,520 for a 2 bedroom, a deal in Saint Cloud pencils or it does not based on price, taxes, insurance, and financing. Pencilwrite computes cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, and true ROE from a few inputs.
Pencilwrite turns an address, a price, and these rents into a full underwrite, cap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCR, true ROE, taxes, and an offer you can send. Join the early access list.
