Counties / Texas / Brown County

Brown County, TX

FIPS 48049 · population 38,347 · outside every metro area

$189k
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
$189k
▼ 1.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$919
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
$1,080
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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+55.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.5%FHFA HPI2025+4.7%
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$159k
Surveyed gross rent$919
Rent burden 30%+56.5%
Median year built1978
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
22.2%vacant
19,246estimated housing units
Occupied tenure31.7% renter
owner 68.3%renter 31.7%
Structure mix67.3% single-family
Single-family 67.3%20+ units 3.7%Mobile home 16.0%Other 13.0%
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 jobs15,569▼ 1.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments938annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$969▲ 4.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services28.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.8%WEEKLY WAGE+4.6%Education and health services28.6%
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

Brown County’s decision tension is a weakening Zillow value reading against a rising FHFA transaction index, with listing conditions also requiring patient, property-level underwriting. Zillow’s county median home value was $189,308 in 2026-06, down 1.53% year over year; FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.66% in its separate 2025 annual observation. Different methods and vintages mean these cannot be blended into one appreciation rate. Investors seeking resale support should investigate comparable sales, while buyers dependent on rapid disposition should be cautious.

02Housing economics

Measured market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,080 per month is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot substitute for it. The effective property-tax rate is 1.11%, and median annual tax is $1,770; those figures raise a carrying-cost question relative to purchase basis but require parcel-specific verification. FHFA’s index describes repeat transactions, not a dollar home value, so it neither values an individual asset nor resolves the missing rent evidence.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS market evidence indicates more visible supply and seller accommodation: 202 active listings, up 8.63%, 72 median days on market, up 17.07%, and 19.43% of listings reduced. These are active asking-price, marketing-time, and concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand alone. Tax-return migration was net inbound and arriving movers reported higher average income than departing movers, but county-level mover data do not establish tenant demand. Investors accounted for 10.86% of 267 purchases, showing participation without identifying the investor segment or competitive intensity for a specific asset.

04Risk & next checks

Risk limits remain material. Modeled annual climate loss is 0.12% of building value, with inland flood named as the dominant hazard; that modeled county ratio is not a parcel flood determination. Annual QCEW measures covered employment at county workplaces, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast; its average wage is a covered-worker average, and Education and health services is only the largest disclosed private supersector. Missing rent prevents yield underwriting, while missing sale comparables, insurance quotes, flood-zone status, condition, and lease evidence prevent a defensible all-in basis, operating-cost, and hazard assessment.

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
Brownwood city18.8KEarly city3.1KBangs city1.6KLake Brownwood CDP1.5KThunderbird Bay CDP702Blanket town434Zephyr CDP244May CDP204
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Brownwood cityIncorporated place
    18,777
  2. 02
    Early cityIncorporated place
    3,143
  3. 03
    Bangs cityIncorporated place
    1,633
  4. 04
    Lake Brownwood CDPCensus-designated place
    1,544
  5. 05
    Thunderbird Bay CDPCensus-designated place
    702
  6. 06
    Blanket townIncorporated place
    434
  7. 07
    Zephyr CDPCensus-designated place
    244
  8. 08
    May CDPCensus-designated place
    204

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

0.119% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.11%

$1,770 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+112

974 in · 862 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$16,097

$71,966 arriving · $55,869 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.9%

29 of 267 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 listings202▲ 8.6% year over year
Median days on market72▲ 17.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced19.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 0.4% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

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. Actual market rent and lease terms may not support property economics because no market-rent measure is published.
  2. Countywide MLS listings may not match a target property’s closed-sale comparables or micro-location.
  3. Inland-flood exposure, insurance cost, tax assessment, and condition may differ materially by parcel from county-level indicators.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market asking rent is not published; HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent.

Do the price measures show one common appreciation trend?

No. Zillow reports a county home-value observation, while FHFA reports a repeat-transaction index in a separate annual observation.

What does the labor evidence measure?

Annual QCEW measures covered jobs at county workplaces and covered-worker wages; it does not measure resident employment or unemployment.