Counties / Tennessee / Johnson County

Johnson County, TN

FIPS 47091 · population 18,196 · outside every metro area

$257k
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
$257k
▲ 2.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$674
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
$925
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+63.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.2%FHFA HPI2025−4.0%
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$179k
Surveyed gross rent$674
Rent burden 30%+36.9%
Median year built1981
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.7%vacant
8,761estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.5% renter
owner 77.5%renter 22.5%
Structure mix70.0% single-family
Single-family 70.0%20+ units 0.7%Mobile home 23.4%Other 5.8%
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 jobs4,186▼ 2.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments347annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,082▲ 4.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities39.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−2.1%WEEKLY WAGE+4.9%Trade, transportation, and utilities39.0%
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 presents a verification case rather than a clear pricing signal. Zillow’s $256,718 county value in 2026-06 is rising, whereas FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI fell 4.05%. These are different vintages and methods: the FHFA index is not a home value, and neither reading should be blended. Buyers relying on appreciation or a quick resale should investigate recent closed transactions; the conflict makes entry-price discipline more important than a directional market call.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $925 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. Against the observed home-value measure, the effective property-tax rate is 0.40%. That frames one carrying cost but does not establish operating cost: insurance, maintenance, financing, utilities, vacancy and property-level assessments are not published. Underwriting cannot judge income coverage or net yield without observed rent and expense evidence.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS evidence shows 104 active listings after a year-over-year decline and a 72-day median marketing time. Yet 21.41% of listings had price cuts. This is visible asking-market supply and seller-concession evidence, not sale prices or standalone proof of buyer demand. Migration was positive by 155 tax-return households, and incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $18,607. Non-occupants represented 2.52% of the 119 recorded purchases, a modest observed share but not necessarily the full buyer pool.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.16%; it is a modeled ratio, not a property loss estimate. Annual QCEW covered workplace employment declined 2.06% while average weekly covered-worker wage rose 4.95%. QCEW is neither resident employment nor unemployment, and Trade, transportation, and utilities is only the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Next checks are parcel flood exposure and insurance terms, lease comps, closed sales, and employer concentration; without them, resilience, cash flow and exit-price conclusions remain unproven.

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
Mountain City town2.5KButler CDP*127
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Mountain City townIncorporated place
    2,542
  2. 02
    Butler CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    127

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

0.163% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.40%

$710 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+155

407 in · 252 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$18,607

$68,651 arriving · $50,044 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors2.5%

3 of 119 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 listings104▼ 9.2% year over year
Median days on market72▼ 5.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced21.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 15.2% 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. Published market rent, operating expenses and financing terms are absent, preventing a gross-yield or cash-flow conclusion.
  2. Zillow, FHFA and MLS signals use different methods and periods, so the apparent price direction may not reflect achievable sale prices.
  3. County-level flood modeling does not identify parcel exposure, insurance availability or property-specific loss severity.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is market rent published for Johnson County?

No. The record does not publish market rent, and HUD Fair Market Rent cannot substitute for it.

What do the Realtor.com figures measure?

They are MLS listing-market evidence: asking prices, visible active supply, marketing time and seller price reductions rather than closed sales.

What is the main physical hazard in the record?

Inland flood is identified as the dominant hazard, with a modeled climate-loss ratio supplied for county building value.