Counties / Pennsylvania / Carbon County

Carbon County, PA

FIPS 42025 · population 65,382 · part of Allentown, PA

$274k
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
$274k
▲ 0.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,272
▲ 7.7% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.6%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,634
market rent is 0.78x 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+72.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.6%FHFA HPI2025+9.3%
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$211k
Surveyed gross rent$994
Rent burden 30%+43.5%
Median year built1972
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
20.8%vacant
34,417estimated housing units
Occupied tenure23.6% renter
owner 76.4%renter 23.6%
Structure mix85.9% single-family
Single-family 85.9%20+ units 2.5%Mobile home 4.2%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 jobs16,371▼ 1.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,326annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$888▲ 3.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality24.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.8%WEEKLY WAGE+3.3%Leisure and hospitality24.4%
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

Carbon County’s decision tension is a muted Zillow value move against stronger FHFA index appreciation, alongside rent growth that may improve income coverage. Cash-flow-focused buyers should investigate rent durability and expenses; buyers relying on price momentum should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value was $274,345, up 0.60% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI increased 9.25%. The HPI is not a home value, and its separate vintage and method rule out a combined appreciation rate.

02Housing economics

Published median asking rent is $1,272 per month, up 7.67% year over year; the supplied gross yield is 5.56% before costs. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR sits above that rent but is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate or yield input. The 1.46% effective property-tax rate is a recurring carrying-cost screen; without operating, insurance, and financing costs, the gross figure cannot establish net income.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS reading shows active listings down 17.78% year over year, median marketing time of 51 days, and a 15.19% price-reduced share. These measure visible supply, marketing time, and concessions, not closed prices or buyer demand by themselves. Tax-return migration was net positive by 196 households, while incoming movers had higher average AGI than outgoing movers. Investors represented 15.21% of 973 purchases, so competition is evident, but property type and financing mix are unreported. The 2025 QCEW annual series shows falling covered employment at county workplaces alongside higher covered-worker wages; Leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss equals 0.12% of building value and is consistent with inland flood as the dominant hazard, but it is not a parcel-specific loss estimate. The record lacks closed-sale prices, unit mix, vacancy, operating expenses, insurance quotes, flood-zone or elevation data, and financing terms. Those omissions prevent testing whether gross yield survives carrying costs, whether listing conditions translate to achieved rents or sales, and whether flood exposure is acceptable for a specific asset. Next checks are a property-level rent roll, tax bill, insurance and flood data, sale comparables, and debt terms.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Carbon 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
Palmerton borough5.6KLehighton borough5.3KJim Thorpe borough4.5KLansford borough4.2KIndian Mountain Lake CDP*3.9KNesquehoning borough3.3KSummit Hill borough3.1KWeatherly borough2.6K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

18 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Palmerton boroughIncorporated place
    5,622
  2. 02
    Lehighton boroughIncorporated place
    5,268
  3. 03
    Jim Thorpe boroughIncorporated place
    4,540
  4. 04
    Lansford boroughIncorporated place
    4,156
  5. 05
    Indian Mountain Lake CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    3,889
  6. 06
    Nesquehoning boroughIncorporated place
    3,344
  7. 07
    Summit Hill boroughIncorporated place
    3,137
  8. 08
    Weatherly boroughIncorporated place
    2,551
  9. 09
    Towamensing Trails CDPCensus-designated place
    1,716
  10. 10
    Weissport East CDPCensus-designated place
    1,646
  11. 11
    Bowmanstown boroughIncorporated place
    968
  12. 12
    Holiday Pocono CDPCensus-designated place
    743
Show 6 more places
  1. 13
    Beaver Meadows boroughIncorporated place
    730
  2. 14
    Tresckow CDPCensus-designated place
    696
  3. 15
    Weissport boroughIncorporated place
    506
  4. 16
    East Side boroughIncorporated place
    457
  5. 17
    Parryville boroughIncorporated place
    445
  6. 18
    Albrightsville CDPCensus-designated place
    85

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

0.116% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.46%

$3,088 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+196

1,792 in · 1,596 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$677

$57,933 arriving · $57,256 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors15.2%

148 of 973 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 listings315▼ 17.8% year over year
Median days on market51▼ 23.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced15.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 6.0% 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 Allentown, PA

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
Carbon County65,382$274k$1,2725.6%inland flooding
Lehigh County378,792$370k$1,8426.0%inland flooding
Northampton County318,580$380k$1,9126.0%inland flooding
Warren County110,849$429k$2,0465.7%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Gross yield may not cover property taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, and financing.
  2. Countywide migration and listing metrics may not represent the asset’s submarket or unit type.
  3. Inland-flood exposure and insurance cost may differ materially by parcel.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is HUD FMR a market-rent estimate?

No. The record defines the two-bedroom FMR as a payment standard, not median asking rent.

What does QCEW employment represent?

Annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.

What evidence identifies investor participation?

The record reports investor purchases as a share of total purchases, but does not provide property-type or financing detail.