Counties / Washington / Clark County

Clark County, WA

FIPS 53011 · population 516,959 · part of Portland, OR

$554k
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
$554k
▼ 0.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,874
▲ 0.8% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.1%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,922
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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+42.5%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.3%FHFA HPI2025+2.1%
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$523k
Surveyed gross rent$1,748
Rent burden 30%+50.6%
Median year built1993
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
4.1%vacant
204,375estimated housing units
Occupied tenure33.7% renter
owner 66.3%renter 33.7%
Structure mix72.9% single-family
Single-family 72.9%20+ units 10.1%Mobile home 3.6%Other 13.4%
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 jobs182,989▲ 0.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments15,826annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,451▲ 3.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services21.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.7%WEEKLY WAGE+3.8%Education and health services21.6%
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’s underwriting tension is a softer value/listing backdrop against rent, covered-job and migration evidence that may support occupancy. It merits investigation by buyers who can validate property-level cash flow and inland-flood exposure; it warrants caution for buyers whose case needs appreciation. Zillow’s $554,044 median home value in 2026-06 was down 0.32% year over year, while FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose. These are different vintages and methods: the index is not a home value, so they cannot be blended into one growth rate.

02Housing economics

Median asking rent is $1,874 per month, producing a 4.06% gross yield before costs. That yield uses market rent, not HUD Fair Market Rent: FMR is a payment standard and cannot stand in for asking rent or a yield calculation. The 0.82% property-tax rate makes carrying costs central to the spread, but county data do not supply insurance, maintenance, vacancy, financing, or property-specific tax bills. Thus the record supports a pre-cost yield screen, not a net-cash-flow conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence points to more negotiability, not proven buyer weakness: median listing prices fell 6.21% year over year, active listings rose 5.7%, and 28.3% of listings had reductions. Asking prices, visible supply and concessions are not closed-sale prices or standalone proof of demand. Net migration of 1,653 tax-return households and an inbound-versus-outbound average AGI gap of $10,410 are positive composition signals, but neither measures tenants. Non-occupant purchase mortgages were 5.72% of 5,843 purchases, indicating competition, not investor control.

04Risk & next checks

Risk is asset-specific. Modeled climate loss is 0.13% of building value annually; inland flood is the named dominant hazard. This ratio is not a property loss estimate, requiring flood maps, insurance terms and mitigation history. QCEW annual covered workplace employment rose 0.7%; it is not resident employment, unemployment, a forecast or metro series. The available wage is a covered-worker average. Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Closed-sale comps, unit-type rents, vacancy, operating expenses and flood insurance quotes are not published; without them, valuation, stabilized income and net return cannot be concluded.

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
Vancouver city195.3KOrchards CDP29.4KCamas city27KHazel Dell CDP23.2KBattle Ground city21.9KFive Corners CDP21.2KSalmon Creek CDP20KWashougal city17.5K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

27 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Vancouver cityIncorporated place
    195,300
  2. 02
    Orchards CDPCensus-designated place
    29,438
  3. 03
    Camas cityIncorporated place
    27,007
  4. 04
    Hazel Dell CDPCensus-designated place
    23,237
  5. 05
    Battle Ground cityIncorporated place
    21,886
  6. 06
    Five Corners CDPCensus-designated place
    21,194
  7. 07
    Salmon Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    20,017
  8. 08
    Washougal cityIncorporated place
    17,490
  9. 09
    Ridgefield cityIncorporated place
    13,408
  10. 10
    Minnehaha CDPCensus-designated place
    11,482
  11. 11
    Felida CDPCensus-designated place
    10,841
  12. 12
    Mount Vista CDPCensus-designated place
    10,764
Show 15 more places
  1. 13
    Barberton CDPCensus-designated place
    8,668
  2. 14
    Lake Shore CDPCensus-designated place
    6,978
  3. 15
    Woodland cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    6,487
  4. 16
    Hockinson CDPCensus-designated place
    6,150
  5. 17
    Venersborg CDPCensus-designated place
    4,262
  6. 18
    La Center cityIncorporated place
    3,883
  7. 19
    Brush Prairie CDPCensus-designated place
    2,526
  8. 20
    Lewisville CDPCensus-designated place
    2,465
  9. 21
    Meadow Glade CDPCensus-designated place
    2,281
  10. 22
    Fern Prairie CDPCensus-designated place
    2,053
  11. 23
    Amboy CDPCensus-designated place
    1,692
  12. 24
    Yacolt townIncorporated place
    1,684
  13. 25
    Duluth CDPCensus-designated place
    1,656
  14. 26
    Cherry Grove CDPCensus-designated place
    779
  15. 27
    Dollars Corner CDPCensus-designated place
    638

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

0.132% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.82%

$4,290 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+1,653

15,130 in · 13,477 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$10,410

$91,698 arriving · $81,288 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.7%

334 of 5,843 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 listings1,798▲ 5.7% year over year
Median days on market47▲ 3.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced28.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 6.2% 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 Portland, OR

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 County516,959$554k$1,8744.1%inland flooding
Multnomah County801,477$511k$1,6884.0%earthquake
Washington County603,947$569k$1,9114.0%earthquake
Clackamas County423,975$623k$1,8963.6%inland flooding
Yamhill County108,734$512k$2,0034.7%earthquake
Columbia County53,493$455k$1,7634.7%inland flooding
Skamania County12,402$568kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood insurance, mitigation, or damage costs exceed county-level assumptions.
  2. Listing concessions translate into weaker closed-sale values or slower lease-up.
  3. Property-specific expenses or vacancy absorb the published pre-cost yield.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can the published gross yield establish net cash flow?

No. It is a pre-cost measure and the record lacks property-specific insurance, maintenance, vacancy, financing, and operating-expense evidence.

Are Zillow and FHFA the same price series or observation period?

No. Zillow reports a county median home value, while FHFA reports a repeat-transaction appreciation index under a separately labeled annual period.

What does the QCEW employment measure represent?

It is annual covered employment at workplaces located in the county, not resident employment, unemployment, or a metro labor series.