Counties / Georgia / Hart County

Hart County, GA

FIPS 13147 · population 26,939 · outside every metro area

$321k
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
$321k
▲ 1.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$844
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
$1,042
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+66.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.3%FHFA HPI2025+5.2%
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$215k
Surveyed gross rent$844
Rent burden 30%+45.7%
Median year built1987
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.4%vacant
13,200estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.2% renter
owner 77.8%renter 22.2%
Structure mix71.7% single-family
Single-family 71.7%20+ units 1.8%Mobile home 23.1%Other 3.4%
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 jobs8,260▲ 4.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments608annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,009▲ 5.7% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing41.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+4.1%WEEKLY WAGE+5.7%Manufacturing41.8%
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

Hart County presents a verification case rather than a clear pricing call: the Zillow median home value was $321,236 in 2026-06, up 1.27% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 5.22% in its separate 2025 annual observation. These are different methods and vintages: FHFA is an index, not a home value, so their rates should not be blended. The difference is a validation question, not evidence of deceleration. Buyers needing current resale support should investigate recent closed sales; buyers relying on appreciation should be cautious because no sale-price series is supplied.

02Housing economics

Housing economics are incomplete. Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $1,042 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent and cannot fill that gap. The 0.56% effective property-tax rate identifies a known carrying-cost component, but not insurance, maintenance, or financing costs. Realtor.com’s MLS listing market shows visible supply 8.71% higher than a year earlier; the 60-day median marketing time and 17.68% price-reduced share indicate visible supply and seller concessions, not closed-sale pricing or proof of buyer demand.

03Demand & competition

Demand signals are mixed and require transaction-level follow-up. Net migration was 210 tax-return households, and incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $13,486; that is a compositional migration measure, not proof that arrivals are homebuyers. Non-occupants accounted for 9.03% of 321 purchase mortgages, showing investor participation but not whether investors set prices or compete in a target neighborhood. QCEW annual covered employment rose 4.08%, but it measures jobs at county workplaces—not resident employment or unemployment—and Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector.

04Risk & next checks

Risk limits are material. Inland flood is the dominant named hazard, and the modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.12% of building value per year; it is a model, not a parcel loss estimate. The record lacks market rent, property-level flood zone and insurance terms, vacancy, operating costs, financing details, and recent comparable sales. Those omissions prevent yield, net-income, resale, and hazard-cost underwriting. Next checks are parcel flood and insurance review, unit-specific rent collection, recent closed-sale comparables, and a breakdown of investor transactions by location and property type.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Hart 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
Hartwell city4.6KReed Creek CDP3.2KLavonia city*2.3KRoyston city*2.3KCanon city*879Bowersville town522Eagle Grove CDP35
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Hartwell cityIncorporated place
    4,562
  2. 02
    Reed Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    3,151
  3. 03
    Lavonia cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    2,279
  4. 04
    Royston cityIncorporated place · spans 3 counties
    2,258
  5. 05
    Canon cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    879
  6. 06
    Bowersville townIncorporated place
    522
  7. 07
    Eagle Grove CDPCensus-designated place
    35

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

0.117% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.56%

$1,209 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+210

894 in · 684 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$13,486

$70,296 arriving · $56,810 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.0%

29 of 321 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 listings181▲ 8.7% year over year
Median days on market60▼ 15.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced17.7%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.5% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

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. The difference between the later Zillow value change and earlier FHFA index change may remain unresolved without recent closed sales.
  2. Unpublished market rent and operating-cost evidence could overturn any income conclusion.
  3. Parcel flood exposure and insurance availability may differ materially from county modeled hazard evidence.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR is not a market-rent substitute.

What do the Realtor.com metrics measure?

They are MLS listing-market evidence: asking prices, visible active supply, marketing time, and price reductions—not closed sales.

Does QCEW describe resident employment?

No. It reports annual covered jobs located at county workplaces.