Counties / Iowa / Dallas County

Dallas County, IA

FIPS 19049 · population 107,968 · part of Des Moines, IA

$356k
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
$356k
▼ 0.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,546
▲ 1.5% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.2%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,318
market rent is 1.17x 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+37.4%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.7%FHFA HPI2025+1.4%
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$356k
Surveyed gross rent$1,311
Rent burden 30%+36.7%
Median year built2006
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
5.2%vacant
44,804estimated housing units
Occupied tenure30.9% renter
owner 69.0%renter 30.9%
Structure mix72.9% single-family
Single-family 72.9%20+ units 12.6%Mobile home 2.0%Other 12.5%
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 jobs56,400▲ 2.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments3,671annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,519▲ 3.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorFinancial activities34.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.1%WEEKLY WAGE+3.5%Financial activities34.1%
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

Decision frame: Dallas County presents a valuation-versus-income tension that rent-focused underwriters should investigate, while buyers relying on a near-term resale case should be cautious. The Zillow county median home value at its 2026-06 label fell 0.67% year over year. Separately, the FHFA repeat-transaction HPI annual observation for 2025 rose 1.35%. These measures differ in vintage and method: the index neither establishes a current dollar value nor shares a growth interval with Zillow.

02Housing economics

At the Zillow label, median asking market rent was $1,546 monthly, producing the supplied 5.21% gross yield before costs. HUD FMR is $1,318 monthly and is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate; it cannot replace market rent in yield work. The 1.41% effective property-tax rate is a material carrying-cost screen, but it must be reconciled to assessed value and the actual tax bill rather than mechanically applied to Zillow’s value.

03Demand & competition

QCEW covered employment rose 2.07% from its prior annual average; Financial activities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole county economy. Net migration was 933 tax-return households, but movers-in had average AGI $7,435 below movers-out, a calculation from the supplied mover averages. Realtor.com MLS evidence shows active listings rose 9.9% and 17.66% of listings had price reductions. This is visible asking-market supply and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale pricing or buyer-demand proof. Investors represented 9.62% of 2,224 purchase mortgages, indicating non-owner participation but not its effect on a specific property.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled climate loss is 0.12% of building value per year and is consistent with inland-flood exposure; it is a county-level model, not a parcel loss estimate. The record lacks closed-sale comparables, vacancy and operating expenses, property-level assessments, flood zone or elevation information, and insurance quotes. Those omissions prevent a supported net-yield calculation, an all-in carrying-cost view, and a property-specific hazard conclusion. Verify leases and attainable rent, tax assessment and bill, flood and insurance terms, and recent closed transactions before setting an underwriting basis.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Dallas 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
West Des Moines city*71.1KUrbandale city*46.6KWaukee city29.2KClive city*19KGrimes city*16.4KPerry city8KAdel city6.4KDallas Center city2.2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

18 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    West Des Moines cityIncorporated place · spans 4 counties
    71,083
  2. 02
    Urbandale cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    46,595
  3. 03
    Waukee cityIncorporated place
    29,236
  4. 04
    Clive cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    19,012
  5. 05
    Grimes cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    16,366
  6. 06
    Perry cityIncorporated place
    7,985
  7. 07
    Adel cityIncorporated place
    6,430
  8. 08
    Dallas Center cityIncorporated place
    2,161
  9. 09
    Granger cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,979
  10. 10
    Van Meter cityIncorporated place
    1,628
  11. 11
    De Soto cityIncorporated place
    1,041
  12. 12
    Woodward cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    977
Show 6 more places
  1. 13
    Redfield cityIncorporated place
    780
  2. 14
    Dexter cityIncorporated place
    620
  3. 15
    Minburn cityIncorporated place
    354
  4. 16
    Bouton cityIncorporated place
    168
  5. 17
    Linden cityIncorporated place
    150
  6. 18
    Dawson cityIncorporated place
    102

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

0.118% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.41%

$5,001 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+933

5,347 in · 4,414 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$7,435

$79,479 arriving · $86,914 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.6%

214 of 2,224 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 listings855▲ 9.9% year over year
Median days on market60▼ 8.5% year over year
Listings price-reduced17.7%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.6% 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 Des Moines, IA

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
Dallas County107,968$356k$1,5465.2%inland flooding
Polk County503,175$284k$1,2595.3%inland flooding
Warren County54,409$327k$1,1894.4%inland flooding
Jasper County37,954$236k$1,0075.1%inland flooding
Madison County16,926$345kn/an/ainland flooding
Guthrie County10,688$281kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Market rent and gross yield may not translate into net income after vacancy, repairs, insurance, taxes and operating expenses.
  2. The Zillow and FHFA measures may point in different directions because they use different methods and observation periods.
  3. County-level inland-flood loss modeling may understate or overstate a specific property’s exposure and insurance cost.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is there a published market-rent basis for gross-yield analysis?

Yes. The record supplies market asking rent and a gross yield calculated before costs.

Does HUD FMR establish expected asking rent in Dallas County?

No. The record identifies HUD FMR as a payment standard rather than a market-rent estimate.

What employment series is available for local demand review?

The record provides QCEW annual covered employment at workplaces located in the county, not resident employment or an unemployment measure.