Counties / Virginia / Franklin city

Franklin city, VA

FIPS 51620 · population 8,250 · outside every metro area

$237k
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
$237k
▲ 2.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$988
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
$1,051
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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+37.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.9%FHFA HPI2025−1.7%
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$257k
Surveyed gross rent$988
Rent burden 30%+53.8%
Median year built1967
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.7%vacant
3,910estimated housing units
Occupied tenure46.1% renter
owner 53.9%renter 46.1%
Structure mix70.4% single-family
Single-family 70.4%20+ units 2.5%Mobile home 0.1%Other 26.9%
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 jobs3,901▼ 2.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments313annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$839▲ 4.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services39.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−2.0%WEEKLY WAGE+4.9%Education and health services39.2%
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

Franklin city presents a mixed-entry case: Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value rose 2.93% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI fell 1.71% in annual 2025. These are different vintages and methods, so they should not be blended. Investors needing stable, demonstrable cash flow should be cautious; investigators should test whether Zillow’s direction reflects the property types they could actually buy.

02Housing economics

At Zillow’s $237,094 median value, market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $1,051 FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The 0.71% effective property-tax rate provides a county-level tax reference but does not establish a subject property’s assessment, insurance, repairs, financing cost, or net operating income. Rent rolls and property-specific tax and insurance quotes are required before reaching a carrying-cost conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is narrow rather than uniformly supportive. QCEW’s 2025 annual average recorded 3,901 covered jobs at county workplaces, down 2.03%; this is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Education and health services, the largest disclosed private supersector, represented 39.17% of private covered jobs, a concentration to examine rather than a full-economy description. Tax-return migration was positive by 26 households, and inbound movers’ average income exceeded outbound movers’ by $5,210; those facts do not prove tenant demand. Non-occupant purchase mortgages accounted for 10.67% of 150 purchases, indicating measurable buyer competition but not pricing power.

04Risk & next checks

Hurricane is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.16% of building value; it is a modeled ratio, not a dollar forecast or insurance quote. Realtor.com MLS listing price, active inventory, days on market, and price-reduction data are not published, preventing a read on visible supply, asking-price concessions, and marketing time. Next checks are subject-level flood and wind exposure, coverage terms, current achieved rents and vacancy, and comparable closed transactions; without them, neither exit liquidity nor property-level cash flow is established.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Franklin city

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
Franklin city8.3K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

1 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Franklin cityIncorporated place
    8,250

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 hazardhurricane

0.161% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.71%

$1,821 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+26

340 in · 314 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,210

$46,624 arriving · $41,414 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.7%

16 of 150 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. Achieved rent may be insufficient relative to purchase price and operating costs because market rent is not published.
  2. Hurricane exposure and insurance terms may make property-level carrying costs materially different from the county tax reference.
  3. County-level price evidence may not apply to a target asset, while missing MLS supply and closed-sale data leave exit liquidity unresolved.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can this record calculate gross yield?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as market rent.

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

No. Zillow reports a median home value, while FHFA reports a repeat-transaction appreciation index with a separately labeled period.

Does the investor-share measure establish pricing power?

No. It shows measurable non-occupant mortgage participation but does not establish buyer pricing power or transaction-wide demand.