Counties / Indiana / Adams County

Adams County, IN

FIPS 18001 · population 36,227 · outside every metro area

$257k
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
$257k
▲ 6.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$833
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
$956
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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+64.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.8%FHFA HPI2025+7.1%
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$178k
Surveyed gross rent$833
Rent burden 30%+41.3%
Median year built1971
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
6.8%vacant
13,308estimated housing units
Occupied tenure16.6% renter
owner 83.5%renter 16.6%
Structure mix86.5% single-family
Single-family 86.5%20+ units 2.4%Mobile home 1.4%Other 9.7%
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 jobs13,014▲ 0.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments799annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$966▲ 1.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing37.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.6%WEEKLY WAGE+1.6%Manufacturing37.8%
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 rising price evidence alongside listing-market friction. Zillow reported a $256,561 county median home value in 2026-06, up 6.84% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI increased 7.07% in 2025. The direction is consistent, but Zillow’s home-value measure and FHFA’s transaction index use different methods and labeled periods, so they are not one appreciation series. This warrants investigation where rents, insurance and exit liquidity can be verified; caution is warranted where the case relies on broad county appreciation.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $956 FMR is a payment standard, not evidence of asking rent, and cannot substitute for it. Carrying-cost review should pair the home-value reference with the 0.77% effective property-tax rate while obtaining parcel assessments, tax history, insurance quotes and actual lease comparables. Without those inputs, affordability and net operating income cannot be underwritten.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence does not establish closed-sale demand: 43 median days on market and a 20.51% price-reduced share show marketing time and seller concessions, not transaction prices. Migration adds nuance: inbound movers had $3,571 more average AGI than outbound movers, yet net migration was negative. Investor participation was 23 of 324 purchases, or 7.1%, indicating that non-owner competition existed but represented a minority of recorded purchases. Tenant demand and acquisition competition require neighborhood-level verification rather than reliance on listing indicators alone.

04Risk & next checks

The stated dominant hazard is inland flood, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.12%; this is not a parcel-specific insurance quote or dollar loss. Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector in 2025 QCEW, which measures annual covered jobs at county workplaces rather than resident employment or an outlook. Missing market rent, lease vacancy, flood-zone and claims data, property condition, financing terms, and closed-sale comparables prevent gross-yield calculation, property-level hazard pricing, and a defensible cash-flow or resale conclusion.

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
Decatur city9.8KBerne city4KGeneva town1.3KMonroe town707Linn Grove CDP396Pleasant Mills CDP124Preble CDP88
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Decatur cityIncorporated place
    9,811
  2. 02
    Berne cityIncorporated place
    3,965
  3. 03
    Geneva townIncorporated place
    1,347
  4. 04
    Monroe townIncorporated place
    707
  5. 05
    Linn Grove CDPCensus-designated place
    396
  6. 06
    Pleasant Mills CDPCensus-designated place
    124
  7. 07
    Preble CDPCensus-designated place
    88

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

0.119% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.77%

$1,373 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-104

515 in · 619 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,571

$49,014 arriving · $45,443 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.1%

23 of 324 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings36▲ 9.2% year over year
Median days on market43▲ 48.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.5%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 22.6% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

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. County-level price and listing indicators may not match the subject neighborhood or property condition.
  2. Absent market-rent and lease-vacancy evidence may materially change cash-flow results.
  3. Parcel flood exposure, insurance availability, and tax treatment may differ from county-level measures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as asking rent.

What does the record show about investor competition?

Investor purchases were a minority of the recorded total.

What climate hazard needs parcel review?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled loss ratio is county-level rather than parcel-specific.