At the city level, Zillow’s typical home value is $224,404 and its typical observed market rent is $1,004 per month. Their implied gross yield is 5.4%, calculated before taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management or financing. The home-value-to-median-household-income multiple is 4.0x, and annual ZORI equals 21.6% of city median household income. These are screening measures of price, rent and income relationships rather than a household-specific affordability finding.
ACS reports 18,745 city housing units; renters hold 46.0% of occupied units. Its median owner-reported home value is $196,300 and median gross rent is $876 per month. Those ACS figures describe surveyed occupied housing, and gross rent includes contract rent plus selected utilities. They are neither the same measure nor necessarily the same period as Zillow’s typical home value and typical observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or substituted for one another.
Direct city survey depth warrants caution. Among renter households, 47.9% are rent-burdened. The stock is 66.7% single-family and 4.6% large multifamily. Within ACS vacancies, 23.7% are for rent, with separate units recorded as for sale and seasonal. Population changed 2.0% across overlapping ACS five-year vintages; this comparison is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $55,658, poverty is 20.8%, and unemployment is 2.6%. These citywide survey indicators describe demand constraints and stock composition; they cannot show a particular unit’s leasing pace, tenant quality, available investment inventory or causal outcomes.
The county records must remain separate. In Cape Girardeau County, county FHFA home-price growth was 5.1% year over year. In Scott County, county FHFA home-price growth was 2.2% year over year. The broader metro showed 1.9 months of supply and 26.4% price drops. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate was 6.7%, a financing input rather than a city lending quote.
Main limits are geographic aggregation and measure mismatch: citywide Zillow and ACS observations do not establish the economics of a specific address, and neither gross yield nor burden data is a net-cash-flow result. Before underwriting, confirm the parcel’s correct county and taxing jurisdictions, deed restrictions, flood and insurance requirements, condition and capital needs, lease comparables, utilities paid, achievable rent, vacancy history, management terms and all operating costs. Review inspection, title and local permitting records before relying on any citywide signal.