Short-term rentals are effectively banned. NYC Local Law 18 (2023) prohibits non-hosted rentals under 30 days, and the Bronx sits squarely under that rule. Every yield figure below is long-term rental only. Investors seeking Airbnb-style income should look upstate, not to the five boroughs.
Gross rental yields across the Bronx's 25 ZIP codes range from 10.3% in New York (10456) down to well below the county median of 5.8% in premium riverfront and Riverdale ZIPs. That spread is roughly double from top to bottom, which means WHERE you buy inside Bronx County (Bronx, NY) matters more than which New York City borough you choose. This ranking shows which ZIPs lead on long-term rental yield and why South Bronx addresses keep winning that comparison.
New York (10456) Leads Bronx Yields at 10.3%
Gross yields = annual rent / sale price. Based on 3-bed house medians. Short-term rental is not shown because NYC Local Law 18 effectively prohibits non-hosted rentals under 30 days across the entire borough. The dashboard shows every property type and bedroom count.
South Bronx ZIPs Lead Because Prices Have Not Caught Up With Rent
The top-yielding ZIPs cluster in the South and Central Bronx because entry prices sit far below the county median of $523,370 while rents have held remarkably firm. New York (10456) is a Morrisania-class address with dense multifamily housing, deep subway access on the B, D, 2, 4 and 5 lines, and a tenant pool that relies on public transit to reach Manhattan jobs. Rents at $3,418 per month are not dramatically lower than Manhattan-adjacent neighborhoods, but median sale prices at $399,200 are a fraction of what a comparable 3-bed house costs across the Harlem River. That mismatch is what produces a 10.3% headline yield.
New York (10468) and New York (10458) both sit in the Fordham-Kingsbridge-Belmont cluster, where Fordham University and Bronx Community College anchor a structural student-and-staff rental market. University neighborhoods generally convert to higher yield than their surrounding areas because rents reset every academic year, landlords can rent by the room, and vacancy windows are narrow and predictable. The same effect drives yield in university-heavy zones in every major US city. In Bronx terms, this is the short-term rental substitute: you cannot run Airbnb, but you can run a 12-month lease into a predictable demand curve that resembles hospitality in stability if not in nightly pricing.
New York (10467) rounds out the top tier on similar fundamentals: subway-served, transit-oriented, moderate entry price, and a working-class tenant base that pays reliably. New York (10466) is the outlier in the top five; it sits further east toward Eastchester and Wakefield where detached single-family housing starts to appear and entry prices climb to $597,777. Yield there is still strong at 7.5% but the capital thesis shifts: you are paying more for a physical house and yard, so you need long-term appreciation to justify the higher entry cost.
The Yield-Price Gap Widens Fast Above the Median
Across the Bronx, price and yield move in opposite directions almost perfectly. An investor entering at $399,200 in New York (10456) versus $523,370 at the Bronx median faces a very different capital-risk profile. The cheaper end of the borough gives you higher cash-on-cash return, smaller loan balance, easier financing, and faster payback, but less appreciation history and thinner comparable sales. The premium end gives you brand-name addresses, better schools, more stable prices in downturns, and tenants on longer leases, but rent does not scale with price. Once a 3-bed crosses roughly $523,370, every extra $100,000 of purchase price typically buys less than $400 of extra monthly rent, and gross yield compresses fast.
That is the core trade-off in any premium market, and the Bronx illustrates it at borough scale. Riverdale-class ZIPs with Hudson River views, Fieldston-adjacent streets, and pockets of Country Club will never produce 10.3% yields because buyers there are pricing in school quality, detached housing, and long-term capital growth, not current rental income. If your thesis is cashflow, the yield-ranked table is where to look. If your thesis is wealth preservation and generational handover, the premium table below is closer to your shortlist.
Premium Bronx ZIPs: Lower Yield, Stronger Capital Thesis
For context, here is how some of the Bronx's most in-demand ZIPs compare on the same metrics. These are established neighborhoods where investors typically accept lower yields in exchange for capital growth, liquidity, and a more resilient tenant profile.
High-demand Bronx ZIPs for context. Same methodology as the yield ranking above. Short-term rental not shown; Local Law 18 restrictions apply borough-wide.
These suburbs yield less on long-term rental because buyers are pricing in schools, detached housing stock, Metro-North access, and proximity to Van Cortlandt Park or the Hudson. The short-term rental angle does not rescue the return: with entire-home Airbnb prohibited across New York City, there is no legal path to offset lower yield with nightly rates. Investors buying into premium Bronx ZIPs are signing up for a capital growth thesis, and the yield spread versus the top table is the premium you are paying for that thesis.
What the Ranking Does Not Show
Gross yield is a useful first filter but a dangerous stopping point. The ZIPs at the top of the table look attractive partly because median sale prices are depressed, and depressed prices can signal either a buying opportunity or a structural problem with the housing stock, the tenant profile, or the condition of the building inventory. A 10.3% headline yield includes tenant turnover risk, rent collection risk, renovation costs on aged multifamily stock, and insurance premiums that are often higher in lower-income ZIPs. None of those appear in the table.
Capital growth is the other axis that gross yield ignores entirely. Premium Bronx addresses have historically appreciated faster than the South Bronx because wealth, schools, and liquid buyer pools concentrate there. Total return equals yield plus appreciation, and the premium table can beat the yield table on total return over a ten-year hold even with the lower headline number. Vacancy risk also cuts both ways: university-adjacent ZIPs are predictable but require active management, while Riverdale tenants often stay for years. Finally, all figures are medians, and medians can lag fast-moving markets by six to twelve months; verify against current comps before acting.
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Bronx Yields Beat State and National Medians
The Bronx median gross yield of 5.8% sits above the New York state median of 5.3% and above the US national median of 5.3%. The top suburb at 10.3% is roughly double the national median, and even the fifth-ranked ZIP at 7.5% clears the state average comfortably. The reason is simple: New York City rents are high and New York City prices in the outer boroughs are lower than the headline coverage suggests. The Bronx inherits the rent premium of the city without the purchase premium of Manhattan or brownstone Brooklyn, and that arbitrage shows up in the yield column. Investors who can hold through tenant turnover, maintenance cycles, and the regulatory reality that Airbnb is off the table will find that the Bronx offers some of the best gross yields available in a major US metro. The catch is that everything must run through the long-term rental playbook. Explore rental data in the dashboard for your specific ZIP, or see the data sources and market score methodology behind these numbers.
Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026.
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This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.