Counties / Florida / Alachua County

Alachua County, FL

FIPS 12001 · population 285,492 · part of Gainesville, FL

$308k
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
$308k
▼ 1.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,675
▲ 1.5% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.5%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,493
market rent is 1.12x the 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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+55.3%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.3%FHFA HPI2025+2.6%
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$289k
Surveyed gross rent$1,339
Rent burden 30%+63.4%
Median year built1988
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.6%vacant
127,731estimated housing units
Occupied tenure45.9% renter
owner 54.1%renter 45.9%
Structure mix55.3% single-family
Single-family 55.3%20+ units 12.3%Mobile home 6.3%Other 26.1%
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 jobs140,853▲ 1.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments8,165annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,270▲ 3.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services30.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.3%WEEKLY WAGE+3.5%Education and health services30.5%
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

Alachua County’s underwriting tension is a negative county home-value reading alongside rising measured asking rent and a published yield, while the listing market shows concessions. It merits investigation by buyers able to validate property-level rent and flood exposure; it warrants caution for buyers assuming a single price series proves a trend. In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, value fell 1.27% year over year, median asking rent was $1,675 per month, up 1.47%, and reported gross yield was 6.53% before costs.

02Housing economics

That rent is measured market asking rent, not a subsidy benchmark. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,493 per month is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent and must not be substituted into yield. The reported gross yield therefore rests on market rent, but it is pre-cost: the effective property-tax rate is 0.96%. Insurance, financing, repairs, vacancy, utilities, and property-level assessed value are not published, preventing a net-yield or payment-carry conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing evidence points to a negotiated rather than demonstrably demand-led market: median listing price was down 6.38% year over year, median marketing time was 68 days, and 21.05% of listings had cuts. These are asking-price, visible-supply, and seller-concession measures—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was negative 454 households, and entrants had lower average income than leavers. Investor mortgage participation was 9% of purchases, a secondary competition indicator rather than evidence of total cash-buyer activity.

04Risk & next checks

FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 2.59% annually, challenging Zillow’s later decline rather than providing a dollar value or a rate to average with Zillow. QCEW identifies Education and health services as the largest disclosed private supersector; it records covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment or an outlook. Inland flood is dominant, and modeled climate loss equals 0.17% of building value per year. Missing property-level flood zone, insurance quotes, condition, lease terms, sale comps, and vacancy prevent a defensible net-income, replacement-cost, or exit-price conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Alachua 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
Gainesville city145.7KAlachua city10.7KNewberry city7.9KHigh Springs city6.5KHawthorne city1.6KWaldo city1.3KArcher city958Micanopy town747
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

9 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Gainesville cityIncorporated place
    145,702
  2. 02
    Alachua cityIncorporated place
    10,743
  3. 03
    Newberry cityIncorporated place
    7,865
  4. 04
    High Springs cityIncorporated place
    6,544
  5. 05
    Hawthorne cityIncorporated place
    1,625
  6. 06
    Waldo cityIncorporated place
    1,303
  7. 07
    Archer cityIncorporated place
    958
  8. 08
    Micanopy townIncorporated place
    747
  9. 09
    La Crosse townIncorporated place
    124

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

0.171% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.96%

$2,773 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-454

9,411 in · 9,865 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$1,327

$61,717 arriving · $63,044 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.0%

242 of 2,690 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 listings1,105▼ 2.4% year over year
Median days on market68▲ 3.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced21.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 6.4% year over year

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

Same metro

The other counties in Gainesville, FL

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Alachua County285,492$308k$1,6756.5%inland flooding
Levy County45,391$292kn/an/ahurricane
Gilchrist County19,040$310kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-level insurance, flood mitigation, tax, or repair costs could erase the reported pre-cost yield.
  2. MLS listing concessions could persist, while closed-sale pricing could differ from the visible listing market.
  3. Net migration and lower entrant income may not support the tenant and buyer depth assumed in an underwriting case.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is market rent published and distinct from HUD Fair Market Rent?

Yes. The record publishes measured median asking rent, while HUD FMR is identified as a payment standard rather than market rent.

Does the record establish a net operating yield?

No. It reports gross yield before costs, but does not publish insurance, financing, repairs, vacancy, utilities, or property-level assessments.

What hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the record includes a modeled climate-loss metric tied to building value.