Counties / Iowa / Davis County

Davis County, IA

FIPS 19051 · population 9,157 · outside every metro area

$238k
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
$238k
▲ 3.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$868
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
$1,043
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+67.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.3%FHFA HPI2025+13.8%
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$162k
Surveyed gross rent$868
Rent burden 30%+25.1%
Median year built1973
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.4%vacant
3,612estimated housing units
Occupied tenure16.7% renter
owner 83.3%renter 16.7%
Structure mix86.7% single-family
Single-family 86.7%20+ units 0.0%Mobile home 7.8%Other 5.5%
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 jobs1,982▼ 5.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments246annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$996▲ 2.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities35.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−5.8%WEEKLY WAGE+2.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities35.2%
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

Davis County presents a decision tension: a $238,122 Zillow median home value and positive price readings sit beside contracting workplace employment and no measured market rent for yield. It merits investigation by buyers who can source property-level rents and flood data; caution is warranted where debt coverage depends on presumed rent. Zillow’s county observation labeled 2026-06 showed 3.29% year-over-year value growth, while FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 13.82%.

02Housing economics

FHFA’s 67.60% cumulative five-year gain is a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a dollar home value; its method and vintage differ from Zillow’s, so the readings cannot be averaged. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not asking rent. Because market rent is not published, gross yield cannot be computed. Against the Zillow value, carrying costs include a 1.40% effective property-tax rate and $2,269 median annual tax; assessment basis, insurance, and parcel-specific tax treatment are not supplied.

03Demand & competition

QCEW’s 2025 annual average reports 1,982 covered jobs at county workplaces, down 5.84% year over year; it is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Net tax-return migration was -18 households, although inbound movers’ average AGI exceeded outbound movers’ by $7,650. Investor purchase mortgages represented 2.04% of 49 purchases, limited measured nonoccupant competition but not cash buyers or all investor ownership.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.14% of building value per year. This is a modeled value-loss ratio, not a dollar loss, and needs site flood exposure and insurance quotations. No Realtor.com metrics are published, preventing assessment of MLS asking-price direction, active visible supply, marketing time, or seller concessions; those are listing-market rather than closed-sale evidence. Next checks are property-level market rents, lease-up, flood-zone history, insurance, tax bills, and condition. Without them, coverage, gross yield, and resale-liquidity conclusions remain untested.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Davis 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
Bloomfield city2.7KPulaski city403Drakesville city149Floris city128
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

4 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Bloomfield cityIncorporated place
    2,742
  2. 02
    Pulaski cityIncorporated place
    403
  3. 03
    Drakesville cityIncorporated place
    149
  4. 04
    Floris cityIncorporated place
    128

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

0.135% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.40%

$2,269 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-18

140 in · 158 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$7,650

$56,593 arriving · $48,943 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors2.0%

1 of 49 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. Achievable rent and operating costs may not support coverage at the observed home-value level.
  2. Site-specific inland-flood exposure or insurance costs may exceed the county modeled loss measure.
  3. Covered-job contraction and net outmigration may coincide with thinner tenant or buyer depth than underwriting assumes.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD Fair Market Rent be used to calculate gross yield?

No. The supplied FMR is a HUD payment standard, while market rent is not published.

Does QCEW describe resident employment or unemployment?

No. It reports annual average covered jobs located at workplaces in the county.

Do the supplied Realtor.com data establish listing-market liquidity?

No. Listing price, active listings, days on market, and price-reduction metrics are not published.