Counties / Iowa / Adams County

Adams County, IA

FIPS 19003 · population 3,622 · outside every metro area

$164k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$164k
▲ 1.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$893
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$933
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.7%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$132k
Surveyed gross rent$893
Rent burden 30%+39.2%
Median year built1955
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
18.5%vacant
1,889estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.9% renter
owner 77.1%renter 22.9%
Structure mix84.4% single-family
Single-family 84.4%20+ units 0.3%Mobile home 9.2%Other 6.0%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs1,167▼ 1.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments146annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$980▲ 2.7% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services28.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.7%WEEKLY WAGE+2.7%Education and health services28.3%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Adams County presents a narrow diligence case: Zillow’s county median home value was $163,905 in 2026-06, up 1.72% year over year, while covered employment was contracting. Buyers able to test tenant depth, property condition and flood exposure can investigate; purchasers relying on demonstrated rent coverage or broad employment momentum should be cautious. The supplied record contains no FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI, so Zillow’s direction cannot be checked against that separate index.

02Housing economics

Housing economics remain unproven rather than cheap or expensive. Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed from the value figure. HUD’s $933 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 1.26% and the median annual tax is $1,661; these county measures do not establish the bill on a specific home.

03Demand & competition

County demand evidence is mixed and thin. QCEW reports 1,167 annual average covered jobs at county workplaces, down 1.68% from the preceding annual average; this is not resident employment or unemployment. Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector. Migration was 79 moving tax-return households in and 77 out, near balance; average inbound AGI exceeded outbound AGI by $7,988. That slight flow says little about renters. The record identifies 2 investor purchases among 31 total purchases, or 6.45%, indicating limited observed non-owner participation rather than all-cash or total buyer competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.15% of building value per year. It is a modeled county-level loss measure, not a property-specific flood assessment. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active listings, days on market, reduced-share or pending ratio is published, preventing a read on visible supply, seller concessions and marketing time. Underwriting still needs rent comparables, assessment records, insurance quotes, flood-zone and drainage review, and property-level condition evidence.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Adams County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Lenox city*1.6KCorning city1.6KPrescott city213Nodaway city73Carbon city46
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

5 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Lenox cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,569
  2. 02
    Corning cityIncorporated place
    1,567
  3. 03
    Prescott cityIncorporated place
    213
  4. 04
    Nodaway cityIncorporated place
    73
  5. 05
    Carbon cityIncorporated place
    46

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.155% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.26%

$1,661 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+2

79 in · 77 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$7,988

$54,430 arriving · $46,442 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.5%

2 of 31 mortgages

investorother financed
No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished market asking rent could show inadequate income coverage relative to acquisition and carrying costs.
  2. Property-level inland-flood exposure, insurance terms and drainage can differ materially from the county modeled-loss measure.
  3. Missing MLS listing-market evidence leaves visible supply, seller concessions and marketing time unmeasured.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the published county figures?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent.

What does the QCEW labor measure represent?

It represents annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.

What hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood. The supplied climate-loss measure is county-level modeled risk, not a parcel-specific flood assessment.