Counties / Arkansas / Cleburne County

Cleburne County, AR

FIPS 05023 · population 25,226 · outside every metro area

$265k
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
$265k
▲ 3.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$859
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
$955
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+57.5%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.7%FHFA HPI2025+6.6%
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$180k
Surveyed gross rent$859
Rent burden 30%+45.1%
Median year built1989
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
32.8%vacant
15,667estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.4% renter
owner 80.6%renter 19.4%
Structure mix75.4% single-family
Single-family 75.4%20+ units 0.7%Mobile home 20.0%Other 3.9%
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 jobs6,570▲ 0.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments650annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$826▲ 2.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities26.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.7%WEEKLY WAGE+2.6%Trade, transportation, and utilities26.0%
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

Cleburne County’s decision tension is price direction versus unverified operating income and flood exposure. Zillow’s county median home value was $264,958 in 2026-06, up 3.69%; FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 6.58% in separate 2025 data. The measures agree directionally but cannot be combined: Zillow is a value estimate and FHFA an index, not a dollar home price. Investigate buyers able to validate income and flood exposure; be cautious where returns rely on appreciation.

02Housing economics

Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The supplied HUD FMR of $955 per month is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and must not be used to create yield. The effective property-tax rate is 0.45%, with median annual tax of $815. Rent, insurance, maintenance, financing, and parcel-level tax bills are not published in the record; their absence prevents a defensible net-carrying-cost or cash-flow conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS snapshot has 325 active listings, up 15.69%, a 72-day median marketing time, and 18.48% of listings reduced. Median listing price also declined. This is visible asking-market supply and seller-concession evidence, not closed sales or proof of buyer demand. Annual QCEW reports growth in covered employment at county workplaces and in average covered-worker weekly wage; it is not resident employment or unemployment data. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Positive net migration coincided with higher average inbound mover AGI than outbound mover AGI. Investors represented 14.92% of 362 purchase mortgages, a buyer-competition measure limited to those records.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual expected building-value loss is 0.29%, consistent with inland flood as the dominant hazard, but it does not identify parcel losses or insurance cost. The record does not publish parcel flood zones, policy quotes, closed-sale comparables, vacancy, or market rent; these gaps prevent conclusions on insurability, market-clearing value, occupancy, and yield. Next checks are parcel flood history and elevation, current insurance terms, lease comps, and the buyer mix behind active and pending listings.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Cleburne 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
Heber Springs city7.2KFairfield Bay city*2.5KQuitman city*805Greers Ferry city778Tumbling Shoals CDP689Drasco CDP314Higden town182Wilburn CDP173
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

10 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Heber Springs cityIncorporated place
    7,161
  2. 02
    Fairfield Bay cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    2,515
  3. 03
    Quitman cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    805
  4. 04
    Greers Ferry cityIncorporated place
    778
  5. 05
    Tumbling Shoals CDPCensus-designated place
    689
  6. 06
    Drasco CDPCensus-designated place
    314
  7. 07
    Higden townIncorporated place
    182
  8. 08
    Wilburn CDPCensus-designated place
    173
  9. 09
    Concord townIncorporated place
    130
  10. 10
    Edgemont CDPCensus-designated place
    24

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

0.286% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.45%

$815 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+53

778 in · 725 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$12,081

$61,315 arriving · $49,234 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors14.9%

54 of 362 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 listings325▲ 15.7% year over year
Median days on market72▲ 8.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.5%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 1.3% 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. Market rent, vacancy, and operating costs may not support the purchase basis.
  2. Parcel-level inland-flood exposure or insurance terms may be materially worse than the county-level modeled risk.
  3. MLS supply and concessions may not translate into a realizable transaction price for a specific property.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted for market rent.

What does the record show about investor participation?

Investors represented 14.92% of 362 purchase mortgages; this does not measure all buyer types or cash purchases.

Does the QCEW labor evidence measure resident employment or unemployment?

No. It measures annual covered employment at workplaces located in the county.