Market rankings · county data · updated October 18, 2026
The best New York markets for DSCR investors
4 markets ranked by how much of a typical house's full monthly payment the rent covers. Rochester, NY leads at 0.89x. At a 7.5% rate and 25% down, no typical house here reaches 1.00x on the HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, so the useful column is the price that clears 1.20x: below it, a house at that rent covers its payment with the cushion.
| # | Market | Typical house DSCR | Price that clears 1.20x | Typical value | Rent (2-bedroom) | Rent-to-price | Property tax | Insurance / yr | Jobs, 1 yr | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rochester, NY | 0.89x | $150,500 | $206,100 | $1,416 | 8.2% | 2.55% | $810 | +0.4% | 616 |
| 2 | Buffalo, NY | 0.87x | $160,500 | $225,700 | $1,423 | 7.6% | 2.02% | $880 | +1.4% | 483 |
| 3 | Albany, NY | 0.84x | $198,000 | $288,900 | $1,711 | 7.1% | 1.83% | $1,020 | +1.8% | 1,450 |
| 4 | New York, NY | 0.63x | $348,000 | $684,300 | $2,806 | 4.9% | 1.35% | $1,460 | +0.8% | 195,963 |
Other states ranked
How the ranking works
Each market is the metro area DSCRInfo tracks, built from its counties' official data and weighted by households: the typical home value, effective property tax and the insurance owners report paying come from the Census household survey; the rent is the HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, weighted by renter households; flood claims are NFIP claims since 2005; the jobs change is a year of federal employment statistics. The property tax is for owner-occupied homes, which can carry a homestead exemption or assessment cap that a rental does not get, so a rental's tax can run higher, notably in states such as Florida and Texas.
The ratio is DSCR: the monthly rent divided by the full monthly payment for a house at the typical value, with 25% down, a 7.5% 30-year loan, property tax and insurance. The same formula runs the market pages and the calculator. Markets are ranked by that ratio, then by rent-to-price. The price that clears 1.20x is the highest price at which a house at that rent covers its full payment with a 20% cushion, on the same assumptions.
The HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent can sit below what a single-family house rents for, so every ratio here is cautious, and a specific house should be tested on its own rent. A lender sizes the loan on the lease or the appraiser's rent estimate, not on an area figure.