The typical asking rent in El Dorado Hills is now within striking distance of $3,000 a month, according to Zillow’s Observed Rent Index. As of the end of March 2026, the median rent in the foothills community stood at $2,986, up $76 from $2,910 a year earlier. That 2.6% annual increase keeps El Dorado Hills among the pricier rental submarkets in the Sacramento region, even as local incomes continue to absorb the cost more comfortably than in most California cities.
Rents push toward the $3,000 mark
The latest Zillow reading puts El Dorado Hills rents $76 higher than they were in April 2025. The 2.6% year-over-year gain is a moderate move — neither the sharp acceleration seen during the pandemic-era rental surge nor the flat readings recorded in some neighboring markets. At $2,986, the typical asking rent is now $14 shy of the $3,000 threshold, a level the community has not previously crossed in Zillow’s index.
Because Zillow reports a single citywide median, the figure spans a mix of single-family rentals, townhomes, and apartments. Renters searching specific property types or neighborhoods within the 95762 ZIP code may encounter prices noticeably above or below the citywide median.
Affordability remains favorable for most households
Despite the climb in headline rents, El Dorado Hills renters are spending a relatively small share of their income on housing. With a median household income of $165,349, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey, the typical renter would devote about 21.7% of gross income to the current median rent. That sits well below the 30% threshold the federal government uses to define a household as rent-burdened.
That cushion is unusual in California, where rent-to-income ratios in many coastal and urban markets push past 30%. In El Dorado Hills, the gap between rent growth (2.6%) and the high local income base means most renter households retain meaningful financial flexibility — though households earning below the area median will of course face a tighter squeeze, and newcomers relocating into the market are negotiating against the most recent, higher prices.
The rent-versus-buy gap stays wide
For households weighing whether to rent or buy locally, the math continues to tilt heavily toward renting on a monthly cash-flow basis. Redfin reports the median home sale price in El Dorado Hills at $1,050,000, a figure that translates into a substantially higher monthly housing cost than $2,986 in rent once mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance are factored in. Nationally, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.18% in March 2026, down from 6.65% in March 2025 but up from 6.05% the prior month — meaning financing costs have eased only modestly from a year ago, doing little to close the gap with rent.
National home prices, as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, were essentially flat year-over-year in March 2026, edging slightly lower from a year earlier. That broader stability has not translated into meaningful relief for would-be buyers in higher-priced markets like El Dorado Hills, where the entry point remains seven figures.
What it means this month
For current renters, the takeaway from the March data is incremental: rents are higher than a year ago by about $76 a month, but the increase is modest in percentage terms and small relative to local incomes. For prospective buyers, the wide gap between $2,986 in monthly rent and the cost of carrying a $1.05 million home suggests renting remains the lower-cost monthly option in El Dorado Hills, based on the data available this month.