Counties / Colorado / Baca County

Baca County, CO

FIPS 08009 · population 3,428 · outside every metro area

$123k
ACS owner-reported value · ACS 2024 5-year
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.

ACS owner-reported value
$123k
survey estimate; not a current listing or sale price
Census ACS · surveyed
ACS median gross rent
$592
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
$973
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Owner-reported value$123k
Surveyed gross rent$592
Rent burden 30%+49.2%
Median year built1971
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.4%vacant
1,983estimated housing units
Occupied tenure28.5% renter
owner 71.5%renter 28.5%
Structure mix75.8% single-family
Single-family 75.8%20+ units 2.9%Mobile home 13.8%Other 7.5%
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 jobs1,164▼ 0.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments123annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$790▲ 1.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities42.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.6%WEEKLY WAGE+1.5%Trade, transportation, and utilities42.1%
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

Baca County has a low-data underwriting tension: ACS survey context provides owner-occupied value and rent measures, but labor and mover evidence does not establish current rental demand. Investigators with parcel-level flood, lease, and sale evidence should test it; buyers needing market rent, yield, or MLS liquidity should be cautious. In QCEW 2025, county workplaces averaged 1,164 covered jobs, down 0.60%, while weekly covered wages rose 1.54%. Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector. These are annual covered workplace measures, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast.

02Housing economics

ACS 2024 5-year reports a $122,900 owner-reported median value for owner-occupied homes and $592 median gross rent for occupied units. They are separate survey contexts—not current asking or transaction measures—and cannot be combined into yield. Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD's two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market asking rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.44%, with $545 median annual tax; this is a carrying-cost input, while parcel assessment, insurance, and operating costs are unreported.

03Demand & competition

Tax-return migration shows 37 households moving in and 58 moving out, a net loss of 21; incoming movers averaged $890 more income than outgoing movers. The income differential does not identify renters. Investor purchase mortgages were zero among 20 purchases, indicating no recorded non-owner mortgage participation, not an absence of cash buyers or all competition. Together, migration and mortgage evidence warrant direct checks of tenant sources, buyer mix, and completed transactions rather than a county-level demand conclusion.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate loss ratio is 0.14% of building value. That county model is not a parcel flood determination or an insurance quote. The record has no Zillow county home-value series, FHFA HPI observation, or Realtor.com listing price, active-listing, marketing-time, and price-reduction figures; current pricing, visible supply, marketing time, and concessions cannot be tested. Next checks are site flood exposure, insurance terms, tax assessment, achieved and asking rents, lease-up, and recent closed sales.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Baca 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
Springfield town1.4KWalsh town492Vilas town184Pritchett town142Campo town58Two Buttes town15
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

6 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Springfield townIncorporated place
    1,384
  2. 02
    Walsh townIncorporated place
    492
  3. 03
    Vilas townIncorporated place
    184
  4. 04
    Pritchett townIncorporated place
    142
  5. 05
    Campo townIncorporated place
    58
  6. 06
    Two Buttes townIncorporated place
    15

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

0.142% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.44%

$545 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-21

37 in · 58 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$890

$52,459 arriving · $51,569 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors0.0%

0 of 20 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. Local asking rents, achieved rents, or lease-up could differ materially from ACS survey context because market rent is unpublished.
  2. Flood exposure, insurance availability, and repair costs may differ sharply by parcel from the county modeled risk.
  3. County migration and mortgage data may not describe the tenant or buyer pool for a specific property.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be computed from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot substitute for market rent.

What current Realtor.com listing evidence is supplied?

No listing-price, active-listing, days-on-market, or price-reduction figures are supplied.

What investor participation is recorded?

No investor purchase mortgages are recorded.