Ames’s current Zillow ZHVI typical city home value is $307,551, while Zillow ZORI typical observed monthly market rent is $1,125. Their implied gross yield is 4.4%, calculated before property taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, vacancy, capital spending and financing. The home value equals 5.04x ACS median household income, and annualized market rent equals 22.1% of that income. These citywide ratios frame affordability and revenue potential, but they are not a property cash-flow estimate.
The city has 28,041 housing units; renters occupy 57.9% of occupied units, and the citywide housing vacancy rate is 8.0%. ACS reports a $277,400 median owner-reported value for surveyed owner-occupied housing and $1,023 median gross rent for surveyed renter-occupied housing, with gross rent including contract rent and selected utilities. Those ACS measures cover occupied housing and differ in concept and period from Zillow’s typical home value and observed market rent, so they should not be combined or averaged.
Direct city evidence shows 50.2% of renter households spend 30% or more of income on gross rent. Single-family structures account for 44.7% of all housing units and large multifamily structures for 21.9%; neither share measures purchasable inventory. Units classified as for rent make up 49.0% of vacant units, but vacancy reasons and the overall vacancy rate do not show how quickly a specific unit will lease. Population is 67,669, up 2.5% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; that change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $60,991, while poverty is 25.5% and unemployment 5.8%, descriptive demand constraints rather than causal explanations.
In county context, Story County listings had a median 48 days on market, while the county property-tax rate was 1.4%; these inform liquidity and expense diligence outside the city measure, not Ames-specific outcomes. In broader Ames metro context, jobs declined 2.0% and months of supply stood at 1.9, placing labor softness beside a for-sale liquidity measure without treating either as city rental demand. The national Freddie Mac mortgage rate was 6.66%, a financing benchmark rather than a city borrowing quote.
Underwriting is limited by citywide typicals, surveyed medians, differing periods, and county, metro and national context that does not measure Ames itself. For a property, verify achievable rent, occupancy and leases; obtain parcel taxes, insurance and utility responsibility; inspect condition and capital needs; and price management, maintenance and vacancy. Build property-level net operating income and debt coverage with an actual financing quote, then check title, zoning and use restrictions.