Counties / Iowa / Cerro Gordo County

Cerro Gordo County, IA

FIPS 19033 · population 42,632 · part of Mason City, IA

$206k
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
$206k
▲ 3.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$918
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$949
market rent is 0.97x 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+40.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.3%FHFA HPI2025+1.5%
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$166k
Surveyed gross rent$850
Rent burden 30%+34.6%
Median year built1959
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
14.2%vacant
22,786estimated housing units
Occupied tenure29.6% renter
owner 70.3%renter 29.6%
Structure mix79.0% single-family
Single-family 79.0%20+ units 5.4%Mobile home 3.2%Other 12.4%
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 jobs23,460▼ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,680annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,089▲ 3.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services26.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+3.0%Education and health services26.3%
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

Cerro Gordo’s decision tension is a plausible gross-rent entry point against taxes, limited demand confirmation, and flood exposure. Zillow’s June 2026 county median home value is $206,159; median asking rent is $918 per month, producing the supplied 5.34% gross yield before expenses. Investors able to verify an individual asset’s operating costs and insurability should investigate; those needing demonstrated sales liquidity or low carrying-cost uncertainty should be cautious. The effective property-tax rate is 1.45%, material to net income, but county aggregates are not a property-level underwriting result.

02Housing economics

The measured market asking rent is below HUD’s $949 two-bedroom FMR, but FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and should not replace observed rent in yield or rent-growth analysis. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.49% annually and 40.13% cumulatively across five years. That index is not a home value; its annual vintage and method differ from Zillow’s value observation, so the series cannot be averaged into one appreciation rate.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS snapshot records 260 active listings, 61 median days on market, and a 14.28% price-reduced share. These are visible asking supply, marketing time, and seller concessions—not closed prices or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return movers show net migration of -58 households; incoming movers’ average AGI was $63,018 versus $65,120 for departures. Investor purchases were 24 of 266 total purchases, or 9.02%, indicating some non-owner competition but not dominance. QCEW reports annual covered workplace employment, not resident employment; education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate-loss ratio is 0.16% of building value; it is a modeled exposure, not a dollar loss or property claim history. Obtain parcel flood-zone and elevation records, prior losses, insurance quotes, tax bills, leases, utility and maintenance costs, and recent closed-sale comps. Vacancy, turnover, expense, and financing data are not published here, preventing a defensible NOI, debt-service, cap-rate, or resale-liquidity conclusion. County-level migration, listings, and job data also cannot establish neighborhood demand.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Cerro Gordo 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
Mason City city27.1KClear Lake city7.6KNora Springs city*1.4KRockwell city986Ventura city733Thornton city514Plymouth city407Meservey city262
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

13 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Mason City cityIncorporated place
    27,050
  2. 02
    Clear Lake cityIncorporated place
    7,607
  3. 03
    Nora Springs cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,363
  4. 04
    Rockwell cityIncorporated place
    986
  5. 05
    Ventura cityIncorporated place
    733
  6. 06
    Thornton cityIncorporated place
    514
  7. 07
    Plymouth cityIncorporated place
    407
  8. 08
    Meservey cityIncorporated place
    262
  9. 09
    Swaledale cityIncorporated place
    148
  10. 10
    Rock Falls cityIncorporated place
    119
  11. 11
    Dougherty cityIncorporated place
    88
  12. 12
    Portland CDPCensus-designated place
    29
Show 1 more places
  1. 13
    Burchinal CDPCensus-designated place
    6

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

0.156% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.45%

$2,410 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-58

988 in · 1,046 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$2,102

$63,018 arriving · $65,120 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.0%

24 of 266 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 listings260▲ 2.2% year over year
Median days on market61▲ 9.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced14.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 9.8% 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 Mason City, IA

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
Cerro Gordo County42,632$206k$9185.3%inland flooding
Worth County7,350$197kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood insurance, mitigation, or prior-loss costs could erase the pre-cost yield.
  2. County listing measures may not translate into resale liquidity for the subject location.
  3. Unpublished vacancy, operating expenses, and financing terms could materially change net return.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD Fair Market Rent be used as the market rent for yield underwriting?

No. The record identifies HUD FMR as a payment standard, while the published rent measure is median asking rent.

What does the supplied QCEW employment evidence measure?

It measures annual average covered jobs located at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.

How large is investor purchase participation?

Investor purchases were 24 of 266 total purchases, equal to a 9.02% investor share.