West Lafayette’s current Zillow ZHVI is $374,552, a typical city home value; Zillow ZORI is $1,841 per month, a typical observed city market rent. This implies a 5.9% gross yield before costs. ZORI rose 3.1% year over year. This citywide screen signals affordability strain: ZHVI is 10.7x city median household income; annual ZORI is 63.3% of income. They are benchmarks, not property cash flow.
ACS offers another city housing lens. Renters occupy 70.6% of occupied units, while single-family homes represent 34.0% and large multifamily buildings 29.7% of housing units. ACS median gross rent is $1,225, including contract rent plus selected utilities, and measures surveyed occupied housing—not Zillow’s observed market rent. ACS median home value is $350,000, an owner-reported survey measure rather than Zillow’s typical city home value. Do not average these ACS and Zillow measures or treat them as the same period. They describe stock, not available investment inventory.
City depth raises affordability and interpretation issues. Among renters, 73.1% pay at least 30% of income toward rent. Of all city vacant units, 51.2% are classified as for rent; that is housing-stock context, not evidence that a specific rental will lease. Population declined 7.0% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a nonannualized comparison that may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $34,891, poverty is 37.3%, and unemployment is 4.5%. These descriptive city facts do not prove tenant quality, leasing speed, available investment inventory, or causal demand outcomes.
In Tippecanoe County, county FHFA house-price-index growth was 58.4% over five years and the county property-tax rate was 0.6%; both are county context, not city measures. In Tippecanoe County, county Realtor data report 20.4% of active listings with price reductions; this is a county listing condition rather than a West Lafayette outcome. In the broader Lafayette, IN metro, metro jobs declined 0.06% year over year and 37.5% of listings had price drops; these are metro signals, not city data. The national 30-year mortgage rate was 6.7%, a national financing condition, not a West Lafayette borrowing quote.
Limits arise from differing definitions, populations, and periods in city Zillow, ACS, county, metro, and national data. The gross-yield screen excludes financing, taxes, insurance, repairs, utilities, management, capital needs, and vacancy loss. Next, test the specific property’s rent comparables, lease and turnover history, condition, utility responsibility, tax assessment, insurance quote, flood and hazard exposure, zoning or occupancy rules, and capital work. Match buyer financing and operating assumptions to the actual deal.