Abilene’s current Zillow ZHVI indicates a typical city home value of $222,043, while ZORI indicates typical observed market rent of $1,947 per month. Annualizing that rent against that value produces a 10.5% gross yield before every operating cost, vacancy, financing and tax. The value is 3.54x ACS median household income, and annualized ZORI is 37.3% of that income. These are broad affordability screens, not a property cash-flow result or a household-specific budget.
City housing stock totals 53,156 units; the citywide vacancy rate is 11.7% and renters occupy 43.9% of occupied units. ACS reports a $183,700 median home value and $1,157 median monthly gross rent for surveyed occupied housing, with gross rent including selected utilities. Those ACS measures are neither the same product nor the same period as Zillow’s typical home value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as conflicting quotes.
Among city renter households, 52.5% were rent-burdened; single-family homes make up 72.2% of housing units, versus 5.6% in large multifamily buildings. Of vacant city units, 10.8% were classified as for rent, but this survey reason is not available inventory. City population was 128,053, up 3.1% between overlapping ACS vintages; that is not an annual rate and may include boundary effects. Median household income was $62,648, while poverty was 16.1% and unemployment 3.0%. Together these describe demand constraints and stock depth, not lease speed, tenant quality or property cash flow.
At the county scope, Jones County had a median 57 days on market and a 22.5% price-reduced share, which describe Jones County rather than the city. At the county scope, Taylor County had a median 44 days on market and an 8.4% price-reduced share, and it must remain separate from Jones County. At the metro scope, the broader Abilene, TX metro had 1.5 months of supply and a 27.2% price-drop share, signaling sale-market conditions only at metro scale. At the national scope, the national mortgage rate was 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than an Abilene borrowing quote.
Main limitations are mismatched source periods and definitions, ACS sampling uncertainty, citywide aggregation and the city boundary across both counties. Before acting, verify the parcel’s correct county, assessed taxes, insurability and hazard exposure; inspect condition, deferred maintenance and utility responsibility; obtain unit-specific rent and vacancy evidence; and quote financing, management, repairs, capital spending and closing costs. This work converts broad market screens into a property-level cash-flow test.