Counties / Washington / Douglas County

Douglas County, WA

FIPS 53017 · population 44,366 · part of Wenatchee, WA

$499k
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
$499k
▲ 2.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$2,267
▲ 5.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.5%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,500
market rent is 1.51x 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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+44.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.6%FHFA HPI2025+0.9%
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$433k
Surveyed gross rent$1,305
Rent burden 30%+45.9%
Median year built1988
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.3%vacant
17,960estimated housing units
Occupied tenure30.7% renter
owner 69.3%renter 30.7%
Structure mix70.2% single-family
Single-family 70.2%20+ units 3.9%Mobile home 13.2%Other 12.8%
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 jobs12,484▼ 0.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,132annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,041▲ 5.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities26.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.5%WEEKLY WAGE+5.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities26.8%
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

Douglas County presents a carry-cost-versus-income question: a buyer seeking market-rent coverage can investigate, while one relying on rapid resale or untested flood insurance should be cautious. In Zillow’s county observation labeled 2026-06, median home value was $499,394, up 2.60%, and median asking rent was $2,267 monthly, up 5.21%. Those measured market-rent inputs support the reported 5.45% gross yield before operating costs.

02Housing economics

HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $1,500 per month; it is a payment standard, not asking rent, so it cannot replace Zillow rent in yield work. The effective property-tax rate is 0.77%, with median annual tax of $3,319, a material carrying-cost item against that gross—not net—yield. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 0.87% annually and 44.14% cumulatively over five years. It supports a positive direction but is neither a home value nor a growth rate to average with Zillow’s later, different-method observation.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence describes the listing market: 159 active listings, median marketing time of 47 days, and 22.14% of listings reduced in price. These are visible supply, marketing time, and concessions—not closed-sale pricing or demand proof. QCEW’s 2025 annual workplace data show covered employment declined while average weekly wage increased; Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Tax-return data show net outmigration of 39 households, even as in-movers’ average AGI exceeded out-movers’. Investor purchase mortgages equaled 6.49% of recorded purchases, limiting evidence of investor competition but not measuring cash buyers.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss is 0.31% of building value, and inland flood is the dominant hazard; this is modeled exposure, not a parcel loss estimate. Underwriting still lacks closed-sale comparables, property-specific flood-zone, insurance, and claims history, operating expenses, debt terms, vacancy, and lease-level rent. Those gaps prevent a net-cash-flow conclusion, a parcel-hazard conclusion, and a precise buyer-depth assessment.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Douglas 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
East Wenatchee city14.2KBridgeport city1.8KCoulee Dam town*1.6KRock Island city1.3KWaterville town1.3KMansfield town298
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

6 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    East Wenatchee cityIncorporated place
    14,199
  2. 02
    Bridgeport cityIncorporated place
    1,792
  3. 03
    Coulee Dam townIncorporated place · spans 3 counties
    1,595
  4. 04
    Rock Island cityIncorporated place
    1,251
  5. 05
    Waterville townIncorporated place
    1,250
  6. 06
    Mansfield townIncorporated place
    298

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

0.309% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.77%

$3,319 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-39

1,528 in · 1,567 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$10,069

$68,112 arriving · $58,043 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.5%

34 of 524 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 listings159▲ 2.6% year over year
Median days on market47▲ 9.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 3.8% 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 Wenatchee, WA

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
Douglas County44,366$499k$2,2675.5%inland flooding
Chelan County80,172$542k$1,7393.9%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. County-level rent and value measures may not apply to the specific property, unit mix, or lease terms.
  2. Flood insurance, taxes, vacancy, and other operating costs could eliminate the apparent gross-return cushion.
  3. MLS listing evidence does not establish closed-sale values or the depth of buyer demand.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can the reported gross yield establish net cash flow?

No. Operating expenses, vacancy, debt terms, and property-level rent are not published in the record.

Does HUD Fair Market Rent measure the county’s asking rent?

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

Does the FHFA index provide a current property value?

No. It is a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a dollar home-value estimate.