Counties / North Carolina / Cherokee County

Cherokee County, NC

FIPS 37039 · population 29,562 · outside every metro area

$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
▲ 0.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$813
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
$935
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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+76.4%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.7%FHFA HPI2025+10.7%
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$232k
Surveyed gross rent$813
Rent burden 30%+43.4%
Median year built1994
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
28.1%vacant
18,404estimated housing units
Occupied tenure16.3% renter
owner 83.7%renter 16.3%
Structure mix76.8% single-family
Single-family 76.8%20+ units 0.2%Mobile home 19.0%Other 4.0%
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 jobs7,867▼ 1.4% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments956annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$910▲ 3.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities25.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.4%WEEKLY WAGE+3.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities25.0%
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

Cherokee County presents a valuation-versus-exit-liquidity tension: Zillow’s county median home value was $274,148 in 2026-06, up only 0.66% year over year, whereas FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI increased 10.69% in 2025. These are different vintages and methods: FHFA is not a home value, and neither measure establishes a current closed-sale trend. Income-focused buyers should investigate transactions and neighborhood rent; those relying on rapid resale should be cautious.

02Housing economics

No market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be calculated. The supplied HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than an asking-rent estimate and cannot substitute for market rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.46%; assessed value, exemptions, and parcel tax bills are not published, preventing a property-specific carrying-cost comparison. Rent comps, utilities, insurance, and financing terms are also not published, preventing cash-flow coverage analysis.

03Demand & competition

MLS listing-market evidence indicates a looser visible selling environment: 387 active listings, 7.21% more year over year, with a 67-day median marketing time. A 19.49% price-reduced share and 23.16% pending-to-active ratio describe concessions and pipeline, not closed-sale pricing or buyer demand alone. Net migration of 201 tax-return households is positive, and supplied mover-income evidence shows incoming households earned more on average than outgoing households. That combination warrants checking whether demand is concentrated in particular price bands rather than assuming countywide absorption.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss equals 0.15% of building value and is consistent with inland flood as the dominant hazard; it does not identify a parcel’s flood exposure, deductible, or insurance availability. Annual QCEW covered workplace employment fell 1.37% from its prior annual average. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. The record reports a 7.66% investor share and 431 total purchases, so investor participation exists without establishing control of buyer competition. Address-level flood records, rent comps, closed sales, and property condition remain necessary to underwrite yield, exit value, and loss exposure.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Cherokee 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
Andrews town2KMurphy town1.6KMarble CDP472
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

3 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Andrews townIncorporated place
    1,998
  2. 02
    Murphy townIncorporated place
    1,604
  3. 03
    Marble CDPCensus-designated place
    472

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

0.151% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.46%

$1,064 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+201

929 in · 728 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$14,482

$70,203 arriving · $55,721 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.7%

33 of 431 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 listings387▲ 7.2% year over year
Median days on market67▲ 0.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced19.5%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.0% 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. Address-level rents and operating costs could reveal inadequate cash flow despite county-level price evidence.
  2. Countywide listing conditions may not match the relevant neighborhood, property type, or price tier.
  3. Parcel-specific flood exposure and insurance terms could exceed the county modeled-loss signal.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross rental yield be calculated from the supplied record?

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

What hazard is identified as dominant?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a modeled annual climate-loss ratio of 0.15% of building value.

How much investor participation is reported?

The record reports a 7.66% investor share and 431 total purchases.