Counties / Kansas / Allen County

Allen County, KS

FIPS 20001 · population 12,483 · outside every metro area

$119k
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
$119k
▲ 2.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$720
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
$877
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+58.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.7%FHFA HPI2025+16.4%
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$108k
Surveyed gross rent$720
Rent burden 30%+37.0%
Median year built1965
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
17.5%vacant
6,077estimated housing units
Occupied tenure24.6% renter
owner 75.4%renter 24.6%
Structure mix84.3% single-family
Single-family 84.3%20+ units 1.7%Mobile home 9.8%Other 4.2%
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 jobs5,650▲ 0.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments405annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$912▲ 3.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing35.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.2%WEEKLY WAGE+3.4%Manufacturing35.8%
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

Allen County’s underwriting tension is a modest-priced entry point against sharply different price signals and thin income evidence. Investigate buyers who can validate unit rent, flood exposure, and taxes property by property; be cautious if the case depends on recent appreciation rather than durable cash flow. Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value was $119,030, up 2.71% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 16.37% annually. The HPI is an index, not a home value, and its different vintage and method cannot be blended with Zillow into one growth rate.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $877 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; using it to derive yield would be unsupported. The supplied 1.67% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost screen, not a tax bill for an individual home. Against the home value, it frames tax burden but not affordability or returns. Insurance, repairs, financing, vacancy, and utilities are not published, preventing a cash-flow coverage conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Workplace evidence is steady rather than expansive: 5,650 annual-average QCEW covered jobs grew 0.18%, and the average weekly covered-worker wage was $912. Manufacturing, the largest disclosed private supersector, represented 35.81% of private covered employment, not the whole county economy. Tax-return migration had a net loss of 8 moving households, although inbound average AGI exceeded outbound AGI by the recorded $2,701 gap. Investor purchase mortgages equaled 21.43% of 98 purchases, signaling competition for acquisitions but not resale liquidity or tenant demand.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss is 0.18% of building value per year; it is a modeled loss measure, not a site-specific flood determination. The record publishes no Realtor.com MLS listing price, active inventory, days on market, or reduction share, so visible supply, seller concessions, and marketing time cannot be assessed. It also lacks market rent, insurance, property condition, flood-zone, and closed-sale evidence. Obtain address-level flood and insurance information, lease comparables, tax assessments, and MLS/closed-sale records before drawing a cash-flow or exit-liquidity conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Allen 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
Iola city5.3KHumboldt city1.8KGas city512La Harpe city492Moran city472Savonburg city93Elsmore city56Mildred CDP33
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
    Iola cityIncorporated place
    5,348
  2. 02
    Humboldt cityIncorporated place
    1,793
  3. 03
    Gas cityIncorporated place
    512
  4. 04
    La Harpe cityIncorporated place
    492
  5. 05
    Moran cityIncorporated place
    472
  6. 06
    Savonburg cityIncorporated place
    93
  7. 07
    Elsmore cityIncorporated place
    56
  8. 08
    Mildred CDPCensus-designated place
    33
  9. 09
    Bassett cityIncorporated place
    22

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

0.181% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.67%

$1,796 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-8

290 in · 298 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$2,701

$43,986 arriving · $41,285 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors21.4%

21 of 98 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. Actual market rents or operating costs may not support cash flow because neither is published.
  2. Address-level flood exposure and insurance terms may be materially worse than the county modeled hazard measure.
  3. Workplace growth, net migration loss, and investor competition may not translate into durable tenant or resale demand.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent cannot be substituted for asking rent.

What physical hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood is the reported dominant hazard; the climate-loss measure is county-level modeled evidence rather than a parcel determination.

Which disclosed private sector has the largest covered employment presence?

Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector by employment.