Methodology

The PlainVoucher directory is compiled from three primary sources: HUD PIH Open Data (Public Housing Authority directory, FY25), HUD USER Fair Market Rent (FY2026), and Census ACS 2019–2023 median gross rent. PHA records are normalized, deduplicated, and slugged from HUD's canonical participant codes. Payment standards are joined on HUD CBSA codes and refreshed annually when HUD publishes a new Fiscal Year FMR (typically October 1).

The derived voucher-vs-market gap metric is a PlainVoucher original, not a HUD-published figure, computed as (HUD 2-BR FMR − Census ACS 2-BR median gross rent) ÷ Census ACS 2-BR median gross rent × 100. Positive gaps mean the payment standard trails the median 2-BR rent; negative gaps mean the voucher covers the market. Because the Census ACS median gross rent reflects rents paid by current tenants (asking rents for available units typically run higher), the gap should be read as a directional signal, not a dollar-perfect forecast.

Every data page carries a reviewer byline and an explicit source footer. Readers can trace any figure back to its upstream dataset. See the full methodology page for the cross-dataset join recipe, schema notes, and update cadence. Corrections welcomed at corrections@plainvoucher.com.