Counties / Iowa / Crawford County

Crawford County, IA

FIPS 19047 · population 16,277 · outside every metro area

$186k
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
$186k
▲ 6.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$743
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
$919
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+52.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.9%FHFA HPI2025+11.2%
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$154k
Surveyed gross rent$743
Rent burden 30%+33.6%
Median year built1968
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
7.8%vacant
6,869estimated housing units
Occupied tenure24.0% renter
owner 76.0%renter 24.0%
Structure mix83.0% single-family
Single-family 83.0%20+ units 3.8%Mobile home 4.2%Other 9.0%
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 jobs6,447▼ 1.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments500annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,074▲ 5.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing35.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.2%WEEKLY WAGE+5.2%Manufacturing35.4%
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

Crawford County’s tension is a rising recorded value benchmark without published market rent, so yield and cash-flow discipline—not appreciation alone—should determine whether an investor investigates further. Zillow’s county median home value was $185,689 in 2026-06, up 6.94% year over year. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 11.20% annually. Those measures point in the same direction, but use different methods and labeled periods; the HPI is not a home value and their changes must not be blended. Buyers seeking documented income support should be cautious.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The supplied HUD two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot substitute for it. Carrying costs deserve separate verification: the effective property-tax rate is 1.28%, with median annual property tax of $1,973. The record supplies no insurance cost, operating expenses, assessed-value detail, or property-level rent, preventing a net-cash-flow conclusion and any rent-to-price test.

03Demand & competition

At county workplaces, QCEW’s annual average was 6,447 covered jobs, down 1.18%, while the covered-worker average weekly wage increased. Manufacturing accounted for 35.39% of total private covered jobs; it is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Migration also deserves caution: net migration was negative 100 tax-return households, and average income of movers leaving exceeded that of movers arriving by a calculated $3,980. Non-owner purchase mortgages represented 24.59% of purchases, indicating meaningful buyer competition but not total investor demand or a purchase-price trend.

04Risk & next checks

The dominant hazard is inland flood, and modeled expected annual climate loss equals 0.19% of building value. That modeled ratio is neither a parcel-specific loss nor an insurance quote; flood-zone, elevation, deductible and premium checks remain necessary. Realtor.com’s inventory period is labeled 2026-06, but no MLS listing price, active-listing count, days on market, price-reduced share or pending ratio is published. Consequently, visible supply, seller concessions and marketing time cannot be assessed; obtain those data, market-rent comps, lease terms, tax bills and flood-insurance quotes before underwriting.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Crawford 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
Denison city8.3KDunlap city*1.2KSchleswig city831Manilla city630Charter Oak city580Vail city527Dow City city454Deloit city309
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

14 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Denison cityIncorporated place
    8,260
  2. 02
    Dunlap cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,170
  3. 03
    Schleswig cityIncorporated place
    831
  4. 04
    Manilla cityIncorporated place
    630
  5. 05
    Charter Oak cityIncorporated place
    580
  6. 06
    Vail cityIncorporated place
    527
  7. 07
    Dow City cityIncorporated place
    454
  8. 08
    Deloit cityIncorporated place
    309
  9. 09
    Westside cityIncorporated place
    308
  10. 10
    Kiron cityIncorporated place
    249
  11. 11
    Arion cityIncorporated place
    137
  12. 12
    Ricketts cityIncorporated place
    61
Show 2 more places
  1. 13
    Aspinwall cityIncorporated place
    45
  2. 14
    Buck Grove cityIncorporated place
    42

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

0.188% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.28%

$1,973 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-100

292 in · 392 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$3,980

$44,568 arriving · $48,548 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors24.6%

30 of 122 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. Unpublished market rents and operating expenses may materially change the cash-flow picture.
  2. Missing MLS inventory and marketing measures may conceal thin liquidity or seller concessions.
  3. Parcel-level flood exposure and insurance terms may differ from the county modeled climate-loss ratio.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent cannot replace it.

What is the largest disclosed private supersector?

Manufacturing.

Can MLS supply and marketing conditions be assessed?

No. The record does not publish Realtor.com listing, inventory, days-on-market, reduction, or pending measures.