ACS 2005 Standard Quality Rent Calculation for
Sargent County, ND

The following information provides details on how the 2005 ACS Standard Quality Median Rent of $509 and the 2000 Census Standard Quality Median Rent of $460 and the update factor of 1.1065 was developed for Sargent County, ND using the publically releasable distributions for North Dakota.

The distributions shown below are constructed by removing the counts of ACS-1 and ACS-2 areas from the total state distributions.

User Note

In computing state based standard qualtiy rents, HUD actually uses data on rent distributions that are prohibited from public release under Title XIII to protect the confidentiality of respondents. The distributions used in this demonstration are rounded versions of the actual, protected data.

The rounding scheme is as follows:

0, count = 0
1 to 7, count = 4
all other counts are rounded to the nearest 5 (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.)

CALCULATIONS USING THE ROUNDED DATA MAY NOT PRODUCE THE SAME RESULT AS CALCULATIONS USING THE PROTECTED DATA. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUD'S ACTUAL RESULTS AND THOSE DEMONSTRATED HERE IS INVERSELY RELATED TO THE SIZE OF THE AREA. THAT IS, THE LARGER THE AREA, THE CLOSER THE CALCULATION BASED ON THE ROUNDED DATA IS LIKELY TO BE TO THE CENSUS BASE RENT COMPUTED FROM THE PROTECTED DATA.


Standard Quality Rents

HUD uses rents for standard quality units to generate update factors. "Standard Quality" units and rents are determined by limiting the full Census sample by including only responses meeting the following criteria:

a. Occupied rental units paying cash rent
b. Specified renter ? on 10 acres or less
c. with full plumbing
d. with full kitchen
e. built before 1999
f. meals not included in rent

Neither the 2000 Census not the 2005 ACS included a question that could be used to filter public or assisted housing from the rental distributions, however HUD is required to ensure that FMRs exclude non-market rental housing in their computation. Therefore, HUD excludes all units falling below a specified rent level determined from public housing rents in HUD's program databases as likely to be either assisted housing or otherwise at a below-market rent (perhaps due to quality problems not otherwise captured by the survey questions).

The "public housing" rent cut-off in North Dakota in 2005 is $311 and the 2000 cut-off rent is $284.

A Microsoft Excel file containing the unsummarized versions of the publicly releasable standard quality 2-bedroom rent distributions from the 2005 ACS for North Dakota, excluding ACS-1 and ACS-2 areas, is available here.

A Microsoft Excel file containing the unsummarized versions of the publicly releasable standard quality 2-bedroom rent distributions from the 2000 Census for North Dakota, excluding ACS-1 and ACS-2 areas, is available here.


50th Percentile 2005 ACS Standard Quality Rent - North Dakota

The following table and calculations demonstrate how the 50th percentile 2005 ACS standard quality rent is determined for North Dakota using the public distribution of standard quality rents for the state.

Portion of Standard Quality Rent Distribution Gross Rent Dollar Range Number of Units Percent of Eligible Distribution Cumulative Percent
Units below interval containing
public housing rent level of $311
$0 to $299 3,006 Not in Distribution Not in Distribution
Units in interval containing
public housing rent level of $311
$300 to $310 438.94 Not in Distribution Not in Distribution
$311 to $324 558.65 1.7% 1.7%
Units below interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $509
$325 to $499 14,462 45.2% 47.0%
Units in interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $509
$500 to $524 2,544 8.0% 54.9%
Units above interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $509
$525 or more 14,403 45.1% 100.0%
Total Units Above Public Housing Rent in Standard Quality Rent Distribution   31,968.11    

The numbers of units with standard quality rents above and below the Public Housing Rent level of $311 for North Dakota are determined using linear interpolation over the 998 units in the rent range $300 to $324. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 998 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the Public Housing Rent level. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that is below the Public Housing Rent level is the same as the proportion of units with rents in the interval (998) that have rents below the Public Housing Rent level.

Proportion of rent interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: ($311 - $300) / $25 = 0.4400

Units in the Public Housing Rent Level Interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: 0.4400 x 998 = 438.94

The 50th percentile standard quality rent for North Dakota is computed by linear interpolation over the 2,544 units in the rent range $500 to $524. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 2,544 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the 50th percentile. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that needs to be added to the lower limit of the interval to reach the 50th percentile rent is the same as the proportion of units in the interval that needs to be added to the units in lower rent intervals to reach 50 percent of units in the distribution.

50 percent of units = 0.5 x 31,968.11 = 15,984.05

Units below the 50th percentile rent interval = 14,462.39 + 558.65 = 15,021.04

Units in 50th percentile rent interval needed to reach 50 percent of units = 15,984.05 - 15,021 = 963.01

Additional Units as Proportion of Interval = 963.01 / 2,544 = 0.3786

Dollars Added to Lower Limit of Interval to reach 50th percentile rent = 0.3786 x $25 = $9

50th percentile standard quality rent = $500 + $9 = $509


50th Percentile Standard Quality Rent - North Dakota

The following table and calculations demonstrate how the 50th percentile Census 2000 standard quality rent is determined for North Dakota using the public distribution of standard quality rents for the state.

Portion of Standard Quality Rent Distribution Gross Rent Dollar Range Number of Units Percent of Eligible Distribution Cumulative Percent
Units below interval containing
public housing rent level of $284
$1 to $274 4,726 Not in Distribution Not in Distribution
Units in interval containing
public housing rent level of $284
$275 to $283 525.24 Not in Distribution Not in Distribution
$284 to $299 933.76 3.2% 3.2%
Units below interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $459
$300 to $449 12,943 43.8% 47.0%
Units in interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $459
$450 to $474 2,513 8.5% 55.5%
Units above interval containing
50th percentile standard quality rent of $459
$475 or more 13,135 44.5% 100.0%
Total Units Above Public Housing Rent in Standard Quality Rent Distribution   29,524.76    

The numbers of units with standard quality rents above and below the Public Housing Rent level of $284 for North Dakota are determined using linear interpolation over the 1,459 units in the rent range $275 to $299. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 1,459 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the Public Housing Rent level. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that is below the Public Housing Rent level is the same as the proportion of units with rents in the interval (1,459) that have rents below the Public Housing Rent level.

Proportion of rent interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: ($284 - $275) / $25 = 0.3600

Units in the Public Housing Rent Level Interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: 0.3600 x 1,459 = 525.24

The 50th percentile standard quality rent for North Dakota is computed by linear interpolation over the 2,513 units in the rent range $450 to $474. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 2,513 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the 50th percentile. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that needs to be added to the lower limit of the interval to reach the 50th percentile rent is the same as the proportion of units in the interval that needs to be added to the units in lower rent intervals to reach 50 percent of units in the distribution.

50 percent of units = 0.5 x 29,524.76 = 14,762.38

Units below the 50th percentile rent interval = 12,943.00 + 933.76 = 13,876.76

Units in 50th percentile rent interval needed to reach 50 percent of units = 14,762.38 - 13,877 = 885.62

Additional Units as Proportion of Interval = 885.62 / 2,513 = 0.3524

Dollars Added to Lower Limit of Interval to reach 50th percentile rent = 0.3524 x $25 = $9

50th percentile standard quality rent = $450 + $9 = $459

The difference between the actual 2000 Census Standard Quality Rent of $460 and the demonstration 2000 Census Standard Quality Rent of $459 computed here is due to the effects of rounding on the public distribution as described above.


Computing the 2000 - 2005 State Standard Quality Update Factor - Sargent County, ND

The 2000 to 2005 update factor is calculated as the ratio of the 2005 ACS standard quality median rent to the 2000 Cesus standard quality median rent for North Dakota. Therefore the 2000 - 2005 update factor is:

= 2005 Standard Quality Median Rent / 2000 Standard Quality Median Rent

= $509 / $459

= 1.1089

The difference between the actual 2000 - 2005 update factor of 1.1065 and the demonstration update factor of 1.1089 computed here is due to the effects of computational rounding and the use of the rounding performed on the public distributions as described above.



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Problems or questions? Contact Peter.B.Kahn@hud.gov.