Counties / Ohio / Brown County

Brown County, OH

FIPS 39015 · population 43,845 · part of Cincinnati, OH

$266k
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
$266k
▲ 3.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,050
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.7%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,008
market rent is 1.04x 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+57.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.5%FHFA HPI2025+2.0%
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$196k
Surveyed gross rent$817
Rent burden 30%+48.7%
Median year built1982
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
12.4%vacant
19,565estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.8% renter
owner 77.2%renter 22.8%
Structure mix76.4% single-family
Single-family 76.4%20+ units 1.3%Mobile home 14.9%Other 7.4%
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 jobs8,026▲ 1.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments784annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$876▲ 4.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities24.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.0%WEEKLY WAGE+4.0%Trade, transportation, and utilities24.5%
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

Brown County’s tension is rising measured value against softer visible resale conditions. Zillow’s 2026-06 county reading reports a $266,226 median home value, up 3.48% year over year; FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.96%. Both point upward, but not to liquidity. FHFA is an index, not a home value, and its annual vintage and method cannot be averaged with Zillow. Investigate if rent and exit can be verified property by property; be cautious if the case needs quick resale or assumed appreciation.

02Housing economics

Published median asking market rent is $1,050 per month and supports the supplied 4.73% gross yield before costs. It is measured market rent, unlike HUD’s $1,008 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent payment standard; rent equals 104.20% of FMR, but FMR is not an asking-rent comp. The 0.82% effective tax rate and $1,600 median annual tax are known carrying-cost screens. Unpublished operating expenses, insurance, vacancy, unit mix and rent comps prevent net-yield or coverage conclusions.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence shows active listings up 23.59% year over year, with 52 median days on market, 18.07% reduced and a 49.38% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-price supply, marketing-time and concession measures—not closed sales or proof of demand—and call for absorption checks. Tax-return migration had more entrants than leavers and higher inbound than outbound average income. Annual QCEW shows covered workplace job and wage growth; trade, transportation, and utilities is its largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Investor purchases were 5.62% of total purchases, so competition is present but bounded in this measure.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a modeled annual climate-loss ratio of 0.14% of building value; this county model is not a parcel loss estimate. The thesis could fail if address-level flood exposure or insurance is worse, concessions persist without closed-sale support, or published rent misses the unit’s condition and bedroom mix. Flood maps, insurance quotes, parcel taxes, closed-sale and lease comps, vacancy and turnover, and condition are not published; without them, net cash flow, replacement-cost exposure and exit value cannot be established.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Brown 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
Mount Orab village5KGeorgetown village3.9KLake Lorelei CDP1.7KRipley village1.6KAberdeen village1.5KLake Waynoka CDP1.3KSardinia village*1.1KHamersville village918
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
    Mount Orab villageIncorporated place
    4,987
  2. 02
    Georgetown villageIncorporated place
    3,899
  3. 03
    Lake Lorelei CDPCensus-designated place
    1,746
  4. 04
    Ripley villageIncorporated place
    1,610
  5. 05
    Aberdeen villageIncorporated place
    1,517
  6. 06
    Lake Waynoka CDPCensus-designated place
    1,266
  7. 07
    Sardinia villageIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,138
  8. 08
    Hamersville villageIncorporated place
    918
  9. 09
    Russellville villageIncorporated place
    717
  10. 10
    Fayetteville villageIncorporated place
    324
  11. 11
    Higginsport villageIncorporated place
    278
  12. 12
    St. Martin CDPCensus-designated place
    171

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

0.141% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.81%

$1,600 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+84

1,186 in · 1,102 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,216

$51,906 arriving · $46,690 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.6%

29 of 516 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 listings121▲ 23.6% year over year
Median days on market52▲ 24.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 1.7% 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 Cincinnati, OH

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
Brown County43,845$266k$1,0504.7%inland flooding
Hamilton County830,774$276k$1,5396.7%inland flooding
Butler County392,876$321k$1,5996.0%inland flooding
Warren County250,008$414k$1,9495.7%inland flooding
Clermont County211,181$334k$1,5805.7%inland flooding
Kenton County171,288$292k$1,5076.2%inland flooding
Boone County139,841$354k$1,7065.8%inland flooding
Campbell County93,426$300k$1,5636.3%inland flooding
Dearborn County51,094$335k$1,2584.5%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Address-level flood exposure and insurance costs may exceed the county climate model.
  2. MLS supply and concessions may not resolve into a supported closed-sale exit.
  3. Published county rent may not match the unit’s condition, bedroom mix, vacancy or operating costs.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent evidence of asking rent?

No. The record defines it as a payment standard, while the published rent is median asking market rent.

Do the Realtor.com measures establish a closed-sale price or buyer demand?

No. They are MLS listing-market evidence covering asking prices, visible supply, marketing time, reductions and pending listings.

Does QCEW employment describe resident employment or unemployment?

No. It is annual covered employment at workplaces located in the county.