Counties / Iowa / Black Hawk County

Black Hawk County, IA

FIPS 19013 · population 131,049 · part of Waterloo, IA

$190k
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
$190k
▲ 1.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,011
▲ 3.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.4%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,051
market rent is 0.96x 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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+37.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.5%FHFA HPI2025+1.8%
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$189k
Surveyed gross rent$989
Rent burden 30%+48.9%
Median year built1966
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
7.5%vacant
58,991estimated housing units
Occupied tenure33.8% renter
owner 66.2%renter 33.8%
Structure mix74.3% single-family
Single-family 74.3%20+ units 6.6%Mobile home 3.0%Other 16.1%
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 jobs70,678▼ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments3,950annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,151▲ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities23.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+0.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities23.7%
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

Black Hawk County’s decision tension is a published gross yield against carrying-cost and resale uncertainty. Zillow’s 2026-06 county measure puts median home value at $190,362 and median asking rent at $1,011 monthly, producing the supplied 6.37% gross yield before operating costs. This warrants investigation by operators who can price flood, tax, and property condition parcel by parcel; buyers depending on quick resale or narrow expense cushions should be cautious. HUD’s $1,051 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate.

02Housing economics

Home value rose 1.46% and asking rent 3.19% year over year. That relationship supports gross, not net, income: the effective property-tax rate is 1.50%, while insurance, repairs, vacancy, and financing costs are not published. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.79% in its 2025 annual observation. It corroborates positive price direction but is neither a dollar value nor combinable with Zillow’s different method and vintage.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS evidence shows median listing price down 8.21% year over year and a 14.76% price-reduced share. These are active-listing asking-market concessions, not closed-sale prices or stand-alone proof of buyer demand. Annual QCEW covered employment at county workplaces declined 0.29%; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Net migration was negative, and entrants reported lower average AGI than leavers, adding demand-quality caution. Investors accounted for 15.52% of 1,907 purchases, a defined competing buyer segment rather than all buyer activity.

04Risk & next checks

The modeled expected annual building-value loss ratio is 0.11%, consistent with inland flood as the dominant hazard, but it is not a site-specific insurance quote or expected cash loss. Missing published evidence includes insurance premiums, flood-zone and claims history, property-level condition, lease and turnover costs, vacancy, and closed-sale transactions. Those gaps prevent a net-yield calculation, an asset-level hazard price, and a defensible resale-liquidity conclusion. Next checks: address-level flood and insurance, actual rent rolls and operating history, and recent closed comparables.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Black Hawk 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
Waterloo city67KCedar Falls city40.9KEvansdale city4.5KHudson city2.7KJesup city*2.6KLa Porte City city2.1KElk Run Heights city964Janesville city*917
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

12 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Waterloo cityIncorporated place
    67,008
  2. 02
    Cedar Falls cityIncorporated place
    40,888
  3. 03
    Evansdale cityIncorporated place
    4,518
  4. 04
    Hudson cityIncorporated place
    2,699
  5. 05
    Jesup cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    2,561
  6. 06
    La Porte City cityIncorporated place
    2,071
  7. 07
    Elk Run Heights cityIncorporated place
    964
  8. 08
    Janesville cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    917
  9. 09
    Raymond cityIncorporated place
    899
  10. 10
    Dunkerton cityIncorporated place
    821
  11. 11
    Gilbertville cityIncorporated place
    761
  12. 12
    Washburn CDPCensus-designated place
    714

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

0.105% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.50%

$2,842 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-25

2,851 in · 2,876 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$6,517

$48,443 arriving · $54,960 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors15.5%

296 of 1,907 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 listings260▲ 1.6% year over year
Median days on market50▲ 7.5% year over year
Listings price-reduced14.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 8.2% 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 Waterloo, IA

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
Black Hawk County131,049$190k$1,0116.4%inland flooding
Bremer County25,204$263kn/an/ainland flooding
Grundy County12,384$224kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood insurance, mitigation needs, or property-specific exposure could erase the gross-yield margin.
  2. Unpublished vacancy, repairs, financing, and operating costs may make gross yield a poor proxy for net income.
  3. MLS asking-price softening may translate into weaker closed-sale liquidity than county-level measures indicate.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is HUD FMR a substitute for published market asking rent?

No. The record identifies FMR as a payment standard and separately identifies market rent as median asking rent.

What does the FHFA annual HPI measure in this record?

It is a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a dollar home value.

Do the supplied figures establish a net operating yield?

No. They provide gross yield before costs, while key operating and financing expenses are not published.