Counties / Texas / Colorado County

Colorado County, TX

FIPS 48089 · population 21,006 · outside every metro area

$303k
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
$303k
▼ 3.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,525
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.0%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,147
market rent is 1.33x 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+57.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−3.4%FHFA HPI2025+16.4%
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$210k
Surveyed gross rent$926
Rent burden 30%+29.6%
Median year built1983
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
21.4%vacant
10,102estimated housing units
Occupied tenure20.5% renter
owner 79.5%renter 20.5%
Structure mix78.1% single-family
Single-family 78.1%20+ units 1.3%Mobile home 16.0%Other 4.7%
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 jobs7,492▲ 0.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments630annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,057▲ 2.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities24.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.0%WEEKLY WAGE+2.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities24.2%
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

Colorado County has a price-basis conflict: Zillow’s county median home value was $302,500, down 3.37% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 16.38% in its annual observation. These are differently constructed and dated measures; the HPI is not a home value and cannot be blended with Zillow’s movement. Buyers relying on appreciation or current basis should obtain local closed comparables before selecting an underwriting anchor.

02Housing economics

Measured median asking rent is $1,525 per month, producing a supplied 6.05% gross yield before operating costs against the Zillow value. It is market rent, whereas the HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard; market rent sits 33% above it, which does not validate an asking-rent forecast. The effective property-tax rate is 1.05%, so stated yield is not net return. Taxes, insurance, repairs, vacancy, financing and rent comparables are not published; without them, net cash flow cannot be concluded.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com MLS evidence shows a 95-day median marketing time, 20.24% price-reduced share and a 21.94% pending-to-active ratio: seller concessions and a visible listing market, not closed-sale pricing or buyer demand alone. Tax-return migration netted 20 households, while the reported average-AGI gap was $18,885 in favor of in-movers. Investors accounted for 7.88% of 165 purchases, leaving owner and investor purchase behavior unresolved. QCEW annual covered workplace employment was essentially flat, not resident employment; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual building loss equals 0.14% of value; the modeled metric does not establish site exposure, insurance availability or policy cost. The thesis can fail if listing conditions do not translate into closed-sale discounts, asking rent is not achieved after costs, or site-specific flood and insurance burdens exceed the county model. Next checks are flood-zone and insurance quotes, closed-sale and rental comparables, lease-up and vacancy history, and title-level investor activity; their absence prevents a defensible property-level price, revenue and risk conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Colorado 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
Columbus city3.9KEagle Lake city3.5KWeimar city2.9KGlidden CDP1.1KRock Island CDP414Garwood CDP386Sheridan CDP208Nada CDP177
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Columbus cityIncorporated place
    3,860
  2. 02
    Eagle Lake cityIncorporated place
    3,485
  3. 03
    Weimar cityIncorporated place
    2,928
  4. 04
    Glidden CDPCensus-designated place
    1,071
  5. 05
    Rock Island CDPCensus-designated place
    414
  6. 06
    Garwood CDPCensus-designated place
    386
  7. 07
    Sheridan CDPCensus-designated place
    208
  8. 08
    Nada CDPCensus-designated place
    177

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

0.138% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.05%

$2,204 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+20

536 in · 516 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$18,885

$79,860 arriving · $60,975 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.9%

13 of 165 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 listings78▲ 3.3% year over year
Median days on market95▲ 71.5% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 1.6% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. MLS listing conditions may not result in closed-sale discounts.
  2. Asking rent may not be achieved or retained after operating costs.
  3. Property-specific flood exposure and insurance costs may exceed the county-level model.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the published rent a HUD payment standard?

No. It is measured median asking rent; HUD FMR is a separate payment standard.

Do Zillow and FHFA provide the same-period price measure?

No. Their supplied labels and methods differ, and FHFA is an index rather than a home value.

Which hazard requires property-specific review?

Inland flood.