Mankato’s current Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $311,041 and its Zillow ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,232 per month. The resulting gross yield is 4.8% before operating costs. The ZHVI is 4.65x ACS median household income, while annual ZORI equals 22.1% of that income. These citywide benchmarks frame entry price and rent, not the economics of a specific property.
ACS reports renters occupying 50.0% of city occupied homes. Single-family homes account for 52.7% of the stock and large multifamily buildings for 21.0%, indicating a mixed citywide structure. The ACS median home value is $261,700, whereas current Zillow measures describe a typical city home value and a typical observed market rent. ACS values describe surveyed occupied housing, and gross rent includes contract rent plus selected utilities; neither measure should be averaged with Zillow or treated as the same period.
Among renter households, 49.8% report spending at least the rent-burden threshold on rent. Citywide vacancy is 7.4%, and ACS categorizes 42.6% of vacant units as for rent, with the balance assigned to other vacancy reasons; these stock measures do not establish lease-up for a particular rental. Population is 45,473 versus 42,093 in overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a change of 8.0% that should not be annualized and may reflect boundary differences. Median household income is $66,873; poverty is 20.6% and unemployment is 6.0%, descriptive demand constraints rather than causes of housing outcomes. These city facts cannot reveal unit condition, tenant quality, achievable rent, or turnover.
County context varies by parcel: Blue Earth County’s county property-tax rate is 0.98%; Le Sueur County’s county property-tax rate is 1.06%; and Nicollet County’s county property-tax rate is 1.13%. The broader Mankato metro reported 8.71 permits per thousand residents and a -0.1% job change. The national mortgage rate was 6.7%, a financing benchmark rather than a city borrowing quote.
Main limitations are that city benchmarks cannot identify a parcel’s county, tax bill, insurance exposure, operating expenses, or financing terms, and gross yield omits every operating cost. Before underwriting, confirm county location and tax bill; inspect condition, age, systems, and utility metering; verify legal use and occupancy history; obtain comparable achieved rents and concessions; and model insurance, maintenance, management, capital needs, vacancy, and loan terms at the property level.