Counties / North Carolina / Jackson County

Jackson County, NC

FIPS 37099 · population 43,771 · outside every metro area

$452k
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
$452k
▲ 0.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,480
▲ 11.5% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
3.9%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$964
market rent is 1.53x 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+75.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.2%FHFA HPI2025+6.2%
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$285k
Surveyed gross rent$904
Rent burden 30%+42.2%
Median year built1990
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
33.7%vacant
27,803estimated housing units
Occupied tenure39.2% renter
owner 60.8%renter 39.2%
Structure mix70.8% single-family
Single-family 70.8%20+ units 3.4%Mobile home 15.2%Other 10.7%
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 jobs19,270▲ 33.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,318annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$958▲ 2.7% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality32.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+33.1%WEEKLY WAGE+2.7%Leisure and hospitality32.2%
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

Jackson County presents a yield-versus-momentum tension. In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, the $452,226 median home value pairs with $1,480 monthly median asking rent and a 3.93% gross yield before costs. Rent increased 11.50% year over year, outpacing the Zillow value change. This merits investigation for investors seeking current cash flow; buyers relying on appreciation should be cautious about a low initial yield.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent—not HUD—is the basis for that yield. HUD’s $964 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of local asking rent, and it must not be substituted into yield. The 0.34% effective property-tax rate provides a carrying-cost input, but insurance, assessments, financing and operating expenses are not published. Consequently, the record supports gross yield only; it cannot establish net yield, debt coverage, or a break-even rent.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence supports inquiry rather than a conclusion on buyer demand. The 2025 FHFA repeat-transaction HPI advanced 6.18% from the prior year, affirming positive indexed appreciation direction, but it is a different method and vintage from Zillow’s county value observation and cannot be averaged with it. QCEW reports 33.11% growth in annual covered employment at county workplaces; leisure and hospitality, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounts for 32.22% of private covered jobs. Inbound tax-return households exceeded outbound households by 133, with average income $2,114 higher. Investor mortgages numbered 52 of 396 purchases, or 13.13%, indicating participation but not the full buyer mix.

04Risk & next checks

Risk limits are material. For inland flood, modeled expected annual climate loss equals 0.19% of building value, a county-level model that cannot substitute for parcel flood zone, elevation, claims, insurance quote, or mitigation review. Realtor.com’s 2026-06 inventory source is identified, but no MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, reduction, or pending figures are published; thus visible supply, marketing time, seller concessions, and buyer competition cannot be established. Verify those conditions, property-level flood and insurance exposure, taxes and operating costs, and rent comparables before relying on the stated gross yield.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Jackson 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
Cullowhee CDP8KSylva town2.6KCherokee CDP*2.1KHighlands town*1.1KCashiers CDP683Webster town470Forest Hills village329Dillsboro town195
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

10 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Cullowhee CDPCensus-designated place
    7,973
  2. 02
    Sylva townIncorporated place
    2,646
  3. 03
    Cherokee CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    2,059
  4. 04
    Highlands townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,074
  5. 05
    Cashiers CDPCensus-designated place
    683
  6. 06
    Webster townIncorporated place
    470
  7. 07
    Forest Hills villageIncorporated place
    329
  8. 08
    Dillsboro townIncorporated place
    195
  9. 09
    Glenville CDPCensus-designated place
    138
  10. 10
    Whittier CDPCensus-designated place
    0

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

0.187% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.34%

$976 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+133

1,432 in · 1,299 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$2,114

$65,537 arriving · $63,423 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors13.1%

52 of 396 mortgages

investorother financed
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel-level flood exposure, insurance cost, claims history and mitigation needs may differ materially from the county-level climate-loss model.
  2. Absent Realtor.com listing metrics leave acquisition liquidity, visible supply and seller concessions unmeasured.
  3. County-level asking rent lacks vacancy, unit-type and submarket comparables, so the stated gross yield may not apply to a target property.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD Fair Market Rent be used to calculate the stated yield?

No. The yield uses published median asking market rent; the HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard.

Do Zillow and FHFA provide one combined appreciation rate?

No. FHFA is a repeat-transaction index and its observation differs in method and vintage from Zillow’s county value measure.

Are Realtor.com supply and seller-concession metrics published for the identified inventory period?

No. The source period is identified, but listing price, active listings, days on market, price reductions and pending metrics are not published.