Counties / Kentucky / Clark County

Clark County, KY

FIPS 21049 · population 37,192 · part of Lexington, KY

$258k
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
$258k
▲ 4.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,209
▲ 6.3% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.6%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,272
market rent is 0.95x 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+55.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+4.9%FHFA HPI2025+6.5%
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$206k
Surveyed gross rent$938
Rent burden 30%+51.4%
Median year built1979
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.3%vacant
16,418estimated housing units
Occupied tenure29.3% renter
owner 70.7%renter 29.3%
Structure mix77.0% single-family
Single-family 77.0%20+ units 2.0%Mobile home 7.5%Other 13.5%
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 jobs13,547▼ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,102annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,098▲ 2.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities23.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+2.1%Trade, transportation, and utilities23.6%
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

Clark County presents a yield-versus-cost tension: published gross yield is measurable, but rising values require property-level cash-flow verification. Zillow’s county observation reports a $258,241 median home value and $1,209 median asking rent per month, producing the supplied 5.62% gross yield before costs. Asking rent grew a calculated 1.39 percentage points faster than Zillow value. Separately, FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 6.51%; it confirms direction, not a home value, and cannot be combined with Zillow into one growth rate. This suits buyers who can verify expenses and warrants caution for yield-focused buyers.

02Housing economics

Rent must be kept separate from HUD policy. Zillow’s figure is measured market asking rent; HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and market rent is 95% of it. Gross yield therefore relies on market rent but is before operating costs. The effective property-tax rate is 0.71%, with median annual tax of $1,451; use parcel tax, not the county median. Inland flood is dominant, with modeled annual climate loss of 0.13% of building value. Flood zone, insurance quote, replacement cost, and parcel assessment are not published, preventing a net-yield or debt-service conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed, not proof of absorption. Tax-return migration was net positive by 114 households, but average AGI of movers in was $2,392 below movers out. Annual QCEW covered jobs at county workplaces declined 0.35% while the covered-worker average weekly wage rose 2.14%; this is neither resident employment nor unemployment. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Investor purchase mortgages were 12.58% of 469 purchases: a visible competing segment, not evidence of bidding behavior, cash purchases, or rental performance. Realtor.com listing price, inventory, days on market, and reductions are not published, so MLS supply, marketing time, and concessions cannot be assessed.

04Risk & next checks

County-level evidence cannot establish submarket rent durability or asset performance. Next obtain comparable lease terms and turnover, parcel flood and insurance data, tax bill, operating history, financing terms, and current MLS listing and pending detail. These determine whether gross yield survives carrying costs, whether investor activity affects the target asset, and whether migration and workplace evidence reaches its tenant base.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Clark 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
Winchester city19.2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

1 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Winchester cityIncorporated place
    19,213

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

0.129% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.70%

$1,451 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+114

1,052 in · 938 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$2,392

$51,498 arriving · $53,890 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors12.6%

59 of 469 mortgages

investorother financed
Same metro

The other counties in Lexington, KY

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
Clark County37,192$258k$1,2095.6%inland flooding
Fayette County323,725$336k$1,5515.5%inland flooding
Scott County59,536$346k$1,5275.3%inland flooding
Jessamine County54,588$328k$1,5425.6%inland flooding
Woodford County27,279$356k$1,5665.3%inland flooding
Bourbon County20,240$258k$1,0234.8%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel-level taxes, insurance, vacancy, maintenance, and financing could erase the pre-cost gross yield.
  2. County migration and workplace data may not describe target-submarket tenant demand.
  3. Absent MLS and parcel flood data could reveal weaker liquidity or higher hazard costs than county evidence shows.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is market rent published, or must yield be inferred from HUD FMR?

Market asking rent is published; gross yield is supplied and should not be inferred from HUD FMR.

Do the supplied sources establish current MLS supply or buyer absorption?

No. Realtor.com listing-market figures are not published, so current supply and marketing conditions cannot be assessed.

What is the dominant climate hazard?

Inland flood.