How many Tennessee counties have published voucher data?

HUD publishes FY2026 Fair Market Rents and FY2026 Section 8 income limits for 95 county areas in Tennessee. Each one has its own page here with bedroom-by-bedroom rents, income limits by household size, and payment standard math.

What is a Fair Market Rent, and is it the rent I will collect?

A Fair Market Rent is a statistic HUD publishes each fiscal year to set subsidy levels in an area. It is not a rent guarantee and not an appraisal. The rent actually approved on a unit comes from the local agency's payment standard and rent reasonableness review, and the rent a lender counts comes from the lease and the appraiser's rent analysis.

Who sets the payment standard in Tennessee?

Each public housing agency sets its own, normally between 90% and 110% of the applicable Fair Market Rent, with higher or lower standards available through HUD approval. Contact the agency with jurisdiction over the property address for the standard currently in force.

What loan type finances a voucher rental?

A business-purpose investment property loan, most commonly a coverage-ratio (DSCR) loan qualified on the property's rent rather than personal income. These are not consumer mortgages, and the borrower is typically an investor or entity holding the property for rental income.

Can Simply Approved Mortgages arrange financing in Tennessee?

Simply Approved Mortgages LLC arranges residential mortgage loans in Florida and Colorado. Business-purpose loan products may be arranged in additional states only where permitted by applicable law and pursuant to applicable licensing requirements or exemptions. Ask a Simply Approved Mortgages Loan Officer what applies to a specific property and entity.

Does a housing assistance payment count as rental income for qualifying?

Treatment varies by program. Where a Housing Assistance Payments contract already exists, some programs use the contract rent, some use the appraiser's market rent opinion, and some use the lower of the two. On a purchase with no contract in place, the appraisal's rent schedule usually governs.

Does the property have to pass an inspection?

Yes. Before assistance payments begin, and periodically afterward, the agency inspects the unit against HUD's housing quality standards. Owners should budget both time and repair money for that process when planning a purchase or refinance.

Do I have to accept a voucher applicant?

Some states and localities prohibit source-of-income discrimination, which covers vouchers, and others do not. Confirm the law applying to the specific county with your own attorney before setting a leasing policy, and apply the policy consistently under fair housing law.

How current is the data on these Tennessee pages?

Every rent and income figure comes from HUD's published FY2026 Fair Market Rent and FY2026 Section 8 Income Limits files, matched to each county by FIPS code. A monthly automated check picks up HUD's next fiscal-year release once it passes validation.

Are the figures on these pages a quote?

No. Everything shown is illustrative and for planning only, not a quote, lock, offer, or commitment to lend. Binding loan figures appear on a written Loan Estimate, and binding subsidy figures come only from the public housing agency's own determination.

Tennessee Section 8 Rental Loans by County

Fair Market Rent and Payment Standard Worksheet

Published HUD Fair Market Rents for the county you choose, plus a worksheet for the payment standard, tenant share, and coverage ratio. An FMR is a published figure, not an approved rent: your public housing agency sets the payment standard and must also find the rent reasonable compared with similar unassisted units.

StateCountyUnit sizePayment standard (% of FMR)PHAs normally set this between 90% and 110% of the applicable FMR.Assumed tenant share (%)Tenant contribution is set by the PHA from household income, not by the landlord.Monthly PITIA

Select a county

Published Fair Market Rent: —
Payment standard at your %: $0
Assumed tenant share: $0
Assumed housing assistance payment: $0
Coverage ratio on total contract rent: 0.00
Coverage ratio on the assistance portion alone: 0.00

Data year: — (loading). Source: HUD USER Fair Market Rents

Illustrative only, not a quote, lock, offer, or commitment to lend, and not a statement of the rent any agency will approve or pay. Payment standards, small area FMRs, rent reasonableness determinations, inspection results, tenant share, contract terms, and re-examination timing are set by the local public housing agency under HUD rules and vary by jurisdiction. Lender and investor treatment of assisted rent also varies by program. Simply Approved Mortgages LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of HUD or any public housing agency.

Next steps

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Emailing your Section 8 rent and coverage worksheet scenario opens our secure request form so a Simply Approved Mortgages Loan Officer can review those numbers. Estimates are illustrative and are not a quote, lock, offer, or commitment to lend.

Voucher rent, explained

Fair market rent, payment standards, and the rent a lender will actually use

Four different rent figures get used interchangeably in voucher deals, and mixing them up is what breaks an investor pro forma. Here is what each one means and where it belongs.

What the rent figure on this page actually means

The Fair Market Rent shown for a county is a HUD-published benchmark for the area as a whole at a given bedroom count. It is a starting reference, not the rent a housing agency will approve for a specific unit and not the rent a lender will use to size a loan. The agency sets its own payment standard, tests the asking rent for reasonableness against comparable unassisted units, and inspects the property before any contract rent is approved. A lender then qualifies the loan on the executed lease or the appraiser's comparable rent schedule. Use the figure here to decide whether a market is worth underwriting, then replace it with the approved contract rent before you rely on the result.

What a Fair Market Rent actually is

HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent (FMR) for each metropolitan area and non-metropolitan county every fiscal year, and Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) by ZIP code in designated metro areas. It is a statistical estimate of gross rent — rent plus tenant-paid utilities — at a set percentile of standard-quality units in that market. It is a budgeting and program-administration figure. It is not a rent survey of your street, not an appraisal, not a rent a landlord is entitled to, and not a figure any lender is obliged to use.

How a public housing agency turns FMR into a payment standard

Each public housing agency (PHA) sets its own payment standard, normally within a band around the applicable FMR, with HUD-approved exceptions in some markets. The payment standard caps the subsidy calculation — it is not the rent. Before approving a tenancy the PHA also applies rent reasonableness, comparing the proposed rent with comparable unassisted units, and inspects the unit against HUD housing quality standards. A unit can sit below the payment standard and still be denied on reasonableness or inspection.

Who pays what once a tenancy is approved

The approved rent is split. The PHA pays a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) directly to the owner under a HAP contract, and the household pays the balance, generally calculated from adjusted income. Both parts can change when the household's income changes, when the PHA updates its payment standard, or when a unit fails a later inspection. Treat voucher rent as contractual and re-examined periodically — never as guaranteed income.

Why FMR is not the rent that qualifies a loan

Lenders underwrite the rent they can document, not the rent a program publishes. Depending on the file that is typically an executed lease, a HAP contract, an appraiser's market rent opinion on Form 1007 or 1025, or the lower of those figures — and many investor programs apply a vacancy or management factor on top. A published FMR is useful for screening a market. It does not set the rent used in a debt service coverage ratio.

How investors use FMR data well

Use FMR and SAFMR data at the top of the funnel: comparing submarkets, sanity-checking a seller's rent roll, sizing bedroom mix before you tour, and planning where voucher demand is concentrated. Then move to documented figures — actual leases, comparable rents, and the PHA's current payment standard — before you underwrite. Run the documented rent through the DSCR calculator rather than the published FMR, and check the program rules on DSCR qualifying requirements.

Where a stabilized voucher rental fits in a longer plan

Once a unit is leased, inspected, and seasoned, its documented income is what supports a rate-and-term refinance or a cash-out refinance, which is how many investors recycle equity into the next property through the BRRRR cycle and eventually into portfolio financing. Whether that works depends on the appraised value, the documented income, and the program in place at the time — no outcome is promised here.

State and local rules are their own question

Some states, counties, and cities restrict refusing a tenant because of the source of their income, and the rules differ meaningfully by jurisdiction and change over time. Check the current text published by the state or local authority that issued the rule, and take legal questions to your own counsel. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

Fair Market Rent and Small Area Fair Market Rent figures are published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Payment standards, rent reasonableness determinations, and inspections are set and performed by the local public housing agency. Simply Approved Mortgages LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of HUD or any public housing agency, and cannot determine eligibility for any housing assistance program. Educational only — not a quote, lock, offer, or commitment to lend.

Program	2026 Limit	Official Source
Conforming (Fannie/Freddie)	$832,750	FHFA 2026 baseline →
FHA (most counties)	$541,287	HUD 2026 floor →
FHA (high-cost counties)	$1,249,125	HUD 2026 ceiling →
VA (full entitlement)	No statutory limit	VA Lender Handbook →
USDA Guaranteed	Based on borrower income	USDA Rural Development →

Trusted government resources

These independent government resources can help you research mortgage programs, rates, and your rights before you apply.

Simply Approved Mortgages is not affiliated with HUD, the CFPB, the FTC, the VA, or any other government agency. Links are provided for your independent verification.

Explore the full guide

Keep reading — the rest of the buying playbook

Each of these is a deep-dive on one piece of the purchase mortgage process. Bookmark whichever you need next.

Guide

Section 8 Rental Property Loans

The national guide to voucher rental financing.

Read the guide →

Guide

DSCR Loans

The loan type most often used on voucher rentals.

Read the guide →

Guide

DSCR Calculator

Run coverage on the rent your lender counts.

Read the guide →

Guide

Rental Income Qualifying

How programs document rent.

Read the guide →

Educational information only — no solicitation

We are not soliciting mortgage business in Tennessee

Simply Approved Mortgages arranges consumer residential mortgages in Florida and Colorado only. We cannot price or accept a residential application for a property in another state. This page is published for general education and research. It is not an advertisement for credit, an invitation to apply, an offer, or a commitment to lend in Tennessee, and we are not accepting applications or inquiries for property in this state.

If your property is in Florida or Colorado, you can read our Florida or Colorado mortgage guides. Otherwise, the CFPB home-buying resources and NMLS Consumer Access can help you find a lender licensed where you live.

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Tennessee Section 8 rental loans, county by county

Fair Market Rent and Payment Standard Worksheet

Select a county

Fair market rent, payment standards, and the rent a lender will actually use

What the rent figure on this page actually means

What a Fair Market Rent actually is

How a public housing agency turns FMR into a payment standard

Who pays what once a tenancy is approved

Why FMR is not the rent that qualifies a loan

How investors use FMR data well

Where a stabilized voucher rental fits in a longer plan

State and local rules are their own question

95 Tennessee counties

How payment standards and voucher rent work in Tennessee

Tennessee Section 8 rental loan questions

The U.S. mortgage market at a glance

Mortgage rates, 2019 → 2026

Home prices, 2019 → 2025

Maximum loan amounts by program

Official government & regulator sources

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

HUD — FHA Single-Family Lender

VA Home Loan Benefits

USDA Rural Development

FHFA Conforming Loan Limits

Freddie Mac PMMS

NMLS Consumer Access

IRS — Home Mortgage Interest

Trusted government resources

Keep reading — the rest of the buying playbook

We are not soliciting mortgage business in Tennessee

Ask SAM anything about mortgages in Tennessee

Licensing & Disclosures

Tennessee Section 8 rental loans, county by county

Fair Market Rent and Payment Standard Worksheet

Select a county

Fair market rent, payment standards, and the rent a lender will actually use

What the rent figure on this page actually means

What a Fair Market Rent actually is

How a public housing agency turns FMR into a payment standard

Who pays what once a tenancy is approved

Why FMR is not the rent that qualifies a loan

How investors use FMR data well

Where a stabilized voucher rental fits in a longer plan

State and local rules are their own question

95 Tennessee counties

How payment standards and voucher rent work in Tennessee

Tennessee Section 8 rental loan questions

The U.S. mortgage market at a glance

Mortgage rates, 2019 → 2026

Home prices, 2019 → 2025

Maximum loan amounts by program

Official government & regulator sources

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

HUD — FHA Single-Family Lender

VA Home Loan Benefits

USDA Rural Development

FHFA Conforming Loan Limits

Freddie Mac PMMS

NMLS Consumer Access

IRS — Home Mortgage Interest

Trusted government resources

Keep reading — the rest of the buying playbook

We are not soliciting mortgage business in Tennessee

Ask SAM anything about mortgages in Tennessee

Florida and Colorado mortgage updates in your inbox

Licensing & Disclosures