Counties / Kansas / Cheyenne County

Cheyenne County, KS

FIPS 20023 · population 2,628 · outside every metro area

$180k
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
$180k
▲ 7.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$656
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
$877
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+7.1%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$126k
Surveyed gross rent$656
Rent burden 30%+28.6%
Median year built1951
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.8%vacant
1,455estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.1% renter
owner 77.8%renter 22.1%
Structure mix90.6% single-family
Single-family 90.6%20+ units 0.3%Mobile home 3.2%Other 5.9%
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 jobs867▼ 0.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments140annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$798▲ 3.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services29.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.6%WEEKLY WAGE+3.0%Education and health services29.4%
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

Cheyenne County presents a price-versus-income-underwriting tension: the Zillow county median home value was $180,148 in 2026-06, up 7.13% year over year, yet market rent is not published. In a county of 2,628 residents, investors who can obtain property-level rents, expenses and comparable sales should investigate; those requiring a county-calculated yield or deep market confirmation should be cautious. No FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI observation is supplied to independently test Zillow’s direction.

02Housing economics

Gross yield cannot be computed because there is no measured market rent. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $877 per month is a payment standard, not asking rent, and must not be substituted into the yield calculation. Carrying-cost review instead starts with the supplied 1.30% effective property-tax rate and $1,636 median annual tax; neither establishes a particular parcel’s tax bill or operating cost. The observed Zillow value is a home-value measure, not a transaction comp.

03Demand & competition

Workplace demand evidence is mixed rather than a resident labor reading. QCEW reports 867 annual covered jobs in 2025, down 0.57% from its prior annual average, with a $798 average weekly covered-worker wage. Education and health services, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounted for 29.42% of total private covered jobs; it does not describe the entire economy. Tax-return migration shows 46 movers in and 37 out, a net gain of 9, while arriving households’ average AGI was $1,981 higher. Investor purchase mortgages were 10% of 10 total purchases, a limited observed channel rather than proof of broad buyer competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual climate loss equals 0.10% of building value; this modeled ratio is not a property-specific loss estimate. Missing Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market and reduction measures prevent a current read on visible supply, marketing time or seller concessions. Missing closed-sale comps, market rent, insurance and flood-location details prevent all-in cash-flow, acquisition-price and parcel-level hazard underwriting. The next checks are rent rolls or asking-rent comps, tax and insurance quotes, flood maps, and property condition.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Cheyenne 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
St. Francis city1.2KBird City city633
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    St. Francis cityIncorporated place
    1,229
  2. 02
    Bird City cityIncorporated place
    633

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

0.103% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.30%

$1,636 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+9

46 in · 37 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$1,981

$47,413 arriving · $45,432 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.0%

1 of 10 mortgages

investorother financed
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. Unreported MLS supply and seller-concession metrics could make the Zillow value movement unrepresentative of executable purchase terms.
  2. Absent market rent, insurance and parcel expense data could materially change cash-flow underwriting.
  3. Property-specific flood exposure and insurance pricing may differ materially from the county-level modeled loss ratio.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure supports a gross-yield calculation?

None. Market rent is not published, and the HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent.

What does the QCEW employment figure measure?

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

Is FHFA repeat-transaction appreciation evidence available to confirm Zillow’s direction?

No. No FHFA annual HPI observation is supplied for the county.