Counties / Kentucky / Bourbon County

Bourbon County, KY

FIPS 21017 · population 20,240 · part of Lexington, KY

$258k
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
$258k
▼ 4.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,023
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.8%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,272
market rent is 0.80x 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+56.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−4.3%FHFA HPI2025+5.5%
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$229k
Surveyed gross rent$822
Rent burden 30%+36.8%
Median year built1979
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.4%vacant
9,181estimated housing units
Occupied tenure36.3% renter
owner 63.7%renter 36.3%
Structure mix77.3% single-family
Single-family 77.3%20+ units 0.8%Mobile home 5.7%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 jobs7,064▼ 0.4% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments639annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,079▲ 5.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities29.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.4%WEEKLY WAGE+5.5%Trade, transportation, and utilities29.2%
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

Bourbon County’s entry signal is mixed: Zillow’s value reading declined while the earlier-vintage FHFA index advanced. Investors able to validate property-level rent and inland-flood exposure should investigate; appreciation-only underwriting warrants caution. In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $258,445, down 4.27% year over year. FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 5.50%; it is an index rather than a home value, so its different method and vintage cannot be averaged with Zillow.

02Housing economics

Zillow reports median asking rent of $1,023 per month and a 4.75% gross yield before costs. That is measured market rent. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not asking rent or a yield input. The reported 0.71% effective property-tax rate is a carrying cost against the headline yield, but a county metric cannot replace a parcel tax bill. Insurance, maintenance, vacancy, financing and utility responsibility are not published, preventing a net-cash-flow conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS snapshot recorded 54 active listings and 22.89% with price reductions. These indicate visible supply and seller concessions, not closed-sale pricing or proof of buyer demand; marketing time and pending activity need review. QCEW’s 2025 annual workplace series identifies Trade, transportation, and utilities as the largest disclosed private supersector; it is neither resident employment nor a forecast of the whole economy. Tax-return migration was net positive by 59 households, with higher average AGI among movers-in than movers-out. Investor share was 10.64% across 188 reported purchases, signaling participation but not bid intensity or strategy.

04Risk & next checks

Risk remains location-specific. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate-loss ratio is 0.15% of building value; this county model does not establish flood depth, insurance availability or loss for a given parcel. The record lacks submarket sale comparables, rent by unit type, vacancy, lease terms, insurance quotes, condition, flood-zone or elevation data, and financing terms. Those omissions prevent a supported conclusion on achievable net income, asset-level hazard cost, resale value, or whether county signals apply to the target property.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Bourbon 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
Paris city10.2KMillersburg city*819North Middletown city679
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

3 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Paris cityIncorporated place
    10,160
  2. 02
    Millersburg cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    819
  3. 03
    North Middletown cityIncorporated place
    679

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

0.151% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.71%

$1,627 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+59

587 in · 528 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$2,975

$52,157 arriving · $49,182 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.6%

20 of 188 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 listings54▲ 28.6% year over year
Median days on market59▼ 4.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 8.1% 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 Lexington, KY

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
Bourbon County20,240$258k$1,0234.8%inland flooding
Fayette County323,725$336k$1,5515.5%inland flooding
Scott County59,536$346k$1,5275.3%inland flooding
Jessamine County54,588$328k$1,5425.6%inland flooding
Clark County37,192$258k$1,2095.6%inland flooding
Woodford County27,279$356k$1,5665.3%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel flood exposure and insurance costs may diverge materially from the county climate model.
  2. County-level value, rent and tax measures may not represent the target unit or submarket.
  3. MLS listing conditions may not translate into realized sale prices or tenant demand.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is measured market rent published rather than inferred from HUD FMR?

Yes. The record publishes county median asking rent and a gross yield before costs.

What does the QCEW labor measure represent?

Annual average covered employment at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or a forecast.

What is the stated dominant hazard?

Inland flood.