Counties / Kentucky / Breathitt County

Breathitt County, KY

FIPS 21025 · population 13,276 · outside every metro area

$76k
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
$76k
▼ 20.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$548
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
$866
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−20.8%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$70k
Surveyed gross rent$548
Rent burden 30%+49.9%
Median year built1989
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.9%vacant
6,575estimated housing units
Occupied tenure23.4% renter
owner 76.6%renter 23.4%
Structure mix50.8% single-family
Single-family 50.8%20+ units 0.6%Mobile home 41.3%Other 7.3%
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 jobs2,643▲ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments345annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$921▲ 4.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services39.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+4.1%Education and health services39.6%
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

Breathitt County’s tension is a $76,090 Zillow median home value in 2026-06 alongside a 20.79% year-over-year decline, net out-migration, and inland-flood exposure. Cash-flow underwriters should be cautious about treating a low value as a margin of safety until they verify parcel flood exposure and attainable rent. The 0.46% modeled annual climate-loss ratio aligns with the named hazard but is county-level, not a property insurance estimate. No FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI is published to independently test Zillow’s direction.

02Housing economics

No median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The $866 monthly HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot substitute for market rent. The 0.73% effective property-tax rate and $510 median annual tax bill provide carrying-cost context, but neither fixes the tax or operating cost of a target parcel. Rent rolls, achieved leases, vacancy, utilities, insurance quotes, and property assessment detail are needed to underwrite income and costs.

03Demand & competition

Annual QCEW workplace data report 2,643 covered jobs, up 0.30%, and a $921 average weekly covered-worker wage, up 4.07%. Education and health services account for 39.64% of private covered employment, a concentration rather than a description of the whole economy. Net migration was negative 84 tax-return households; incoming movers averaged $41,638 of AGI against $38,525 for outgoing movers, a $3,113 gap. Household-count loss and higher incoming mover income therefore conflict as demand signals. Of 36 purchases, the measured non-occupant mortgage investor share was 0%; that removes one observed buyer channel but does not establish overall buyer competition or cash-investor absence.

04Risk & next checks

The Realtor.com inventory source is labeled 2026-06, but no median MLS listing price, active-listing, marketing-time, reduction, or pending data are published; current visible supply and seller-concession conditions therefore cannot be read. Listing evidence would be asking-market evidence rather than closed sales or standalone proof of demand. Obtain parcel flood-zone and insurance terms, sale comparables, and lease evidence. These gaps prevent a property-level flood-cost conclusion, a sale-price liquidity conclusion, and a cash-flow conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Breathitt 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
Jackson city2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

1 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Jackson cityIncorporated place
    2,015

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

0.458% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.73%

$510 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-84

152 in · 236 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,113

$41,638 arriving · $38,525 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors0.0%

0 of 36 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. Countywide Zillow value may not represent a target property’s condition, location, or achievable sale price.
  2. The county climate-loss model may differ materially from parcel-level flood exposure, insurance availability, and deductibles.
  3. The investor mortgage measure omits cash purchases and does not capture all buyer competition.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Median asking market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as a rent substitute.

Does the record provide an independent FHFA appreciation check on Zillow’s direction?

No. No FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI observation is published.

What does the Realtor.com evidence establish about current supply and seller concessions?

Nothing conclusive: the source period is labeled, but the listing, marketing-time, reduction, and pending figures are not published.