Counties / Iowa / Johnson County

Johnson County, IA

FIPS 19103 · population 156,639 · part of Iowa City, IA

$314k
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
$314k
▲ 3.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,383
▲ 5.0% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,141
market rent is 1.21x 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+36.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.7%FHFA HPI2025+4.5%
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$309k
Surveyed gross rent$1,122
Rent burden 30%+56.2%
Median year built1992
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
7.1%vacant
68,217estimated housing units
Occupied tenure40.6% renter
owner 59.4%renter 40.6%
Structure mix59.7% single-family
Single-family 59.7%20+ units 14.0%Mobile home 3.8%Other 22.6%
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 jobs85,594▲ 2.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments5,097annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,279▲ 3.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities27.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.2%WEEKLY WAGE+3.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities27.2%
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

Johnson County’s tension is a still-rising valuation and constrained visible listing supply alongside slower MLS marketing signals; it merits investigation for buyers who can validate property-level rent and flood exposure, while those relying on rapid resale should be cautious. Zillow’s June 2026 county median home value was $313,517, up 3.71% year over year. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 4.55%; it corroborates positive direction but is not a home value and comes from a different observation period and method. Realtor.com’s June 2026 MLS median listing price rose 9.37%; it is an asking-price signal, not a closed sale. Longer marketing time, price reductions, and fewer active listings complicate any simple demand reading.

02Housing economics

The supplied median asking rent is $1,383 per month, and the supplied gross yield is 5.29% before operating costs. That yield relates to measured market rent and price, not HUD’s $1,141 two-bedroom FMR; FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate. Carrying-cost scrutiny is material: the effective property-tax rate is 1.52% and median annual tax is $4,681. The county medians do not provide insurance, maintenance, financing, vacancy, or neighborhood-level taxes, so net yield and property-specific debt coverage cannot be underwritten from this record.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed rather than self-confirming. The county recorded net outmigration of 466 tax-return households, and households moving in had average income $7,500 below those moving out. Annual QCEW data nevertheless show covered workplace employment and covered-worker wages increased; these are job locations, not resident employment or a demand forecast. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. The 11.06% investor share is measured against purchase mortgages, signaling meaningful competition but not proving that investor buying drives pricing or rents.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.19%; this is modeled county-level exposure rather than a parcel flood determination. The record does not publish closed-sale prices, rent by unit type, vacancy, insurance, flood-zone status, financing terms, or operating expenses. Next checks are parcel flood and insurance quotes, lease and concession history, tax bills, and closed comparable sales; without them, resale liquidity, net cash flow, and hazard-adjusted value remain unresolved.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Johnson 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
Iowa City city75.8KCoralville city23.2KNorth Liberty city21.1KTiffin city5.7KSolon city3.2KWest Branch city*2.6KUniversity Heights city1.4KLone Tree city1.2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

13 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Iowa City cityIncorporated place
    75,752
  2. 02
    Coralville cityIncorporated place
    23,234
  3. 03
    North Liberty cityIncorporated place
    21,125
  4. 04
    Tiffin cityIncorporated place
    5,737
  5. 05
    Solon cityIncorporated place
    3,152
  6. 06
    West Branch cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    2,594
  7. 07
    University Heights cityIncorporated place
    1,384
  8. 08
    Lone Tree cityIncorporated place
    1,218
  9. 09
    Swisher cityIncorporated place
    1,182
  10. 10
    Hills cityIncorporated place
    974
  11. 11
    Oxford cityIncorporated place
    779
  12. 12
    Shueyville cityIncorporated place
    740
Show 1 more places
  1. 13
    Frytown CDPCensus-designated place
    113

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

0.192% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.52%

$4,681 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-466

4,909 in · 5,375 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$7,500

$61,573 arriving · $69,073 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors11.1%

238 of 2,152 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 listings628▼ 16.1% year over year
Median days on market73▲ 51.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced8.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 9.4% 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 Iowa City, IA

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
Johnson County156,639$314k$1,3835.3%inland flooding
Washington County22,561$239kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. County median values, rents, and taxes may not represent a specific property’s condition, location, or operating profile.
  2. Parcel flood exposure and insurance costs may differ materially from the county-level modeled climate-loss measure.
  3. MLS listing evidence does not establish closed-sale liquidity, achievable rent, or buyer demand for a particular asset.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the reported rent comparable to HUD Fair Market Rent?

No. The record identifies rent as median asking market rent and HUD FMR as a two-bedroom payment standard.

Does the labor series measure resident employment?

No. QCEW measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county and average wages for covered workers.

What hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard; the reported climate-loss measure is county-level modeled exposure rather than a parcel determination.