FIPS 31109 · population 326,696 · part of Lincoln, NE
The latest county-level Zillow ZORI is $1,345 per month in 2026-06. It is a typical asking-rent index across rental types—not an arithmetic average, signed lease or quote for one property.
| Bedrooms | HUD monthly FMR | Geography | Measurement boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $855 | Lancaster County, NE | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 1 bedroom | $926 | Lancaster County, NE | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 2 bedrooms | $1,141 | Lancaster County, NE | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 3 bedrooms | $1,587 | Lancaster County, NE | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
| 4 bedrooms | $1,712 | Lancaster County, NE | HUD administrative benchmark; compare with same-bedroom listings, never treat it as observed asking rent. |
Zillow asking rent, ACS gross rent and HUD FMR describe different housing universes. They remain separate and no metro, city or neighboring-county value replaces missing county evidence.Zillow pulled 2026-07-26 · HUD pulled 2026-07-26
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 estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.
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.
Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-08-02. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.
BEA per-capita personal income divides all personal income by the county population. It is broader than wages, but it is not household income or a measure of what renters can afford.
HUD CHAS separates renter households by income relative to local HAMFI. Moderate burden means housing costs above 30% through 50% of income; severe burden means more than 50%.
These Apartment List observations match the exact county Census code 31109. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and wider metro measures.
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Lancaster County has a pricing-versus-entry-cost tension: home-value and repeat-sale evidence rise, while visible listings require negotiation. Buyers able to verify rents and flood exposure should investigate; appreciation- or quick-resale-led cases warrant caution. Zillow reports a $305,844 median home value in 2026-06, up 3.55% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose annually. It is not a home value, and its vintage and method cannot be combined with Zillow into a single growth rate.
Measured median asking rent is $1,345 per month in 2026-06, producing the reported 5.28% gross yield before expenses. That is market rent, unlike the supplied $1,141 HUD FMR payment standard; asking rent is 17.9% above FMR by calculation, not implied by it. The 1.53% effective property-tax rate and $4,204 median tax sharpen the carrying-cost screen against that pre-cost yield. Rent by unit type, vacancy, insurance, repairs, financing and operating costs are not published, so net yield and debt-service coverage cannot be underwritten.
Realtor.com’s MLS evidence shows 913 active listings, 18.74% more than a year earlier, while median listing price fell 1.81%; price reductions add seller concessions. Active listings are visible supply, listing prices are asks, and reductions are not closed-sale pricing or buyer-demand proof. Marketing time lengthened, while the pending ratio is only a listing-status measure. Tax-return migration was slightly negative, with inbound movers reporting lower average AGI than outbound movers. Investor mortgages were a minority of reported purchases, showing a competing buyer segment without establishing price support.
Inland flood is dominant, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.14% of building value; this is modeled exposure, not a property-specific loss estimate. QCEW’s 2025 workplace data show employment and average weekly wages increased, with Trade, transportation, and utilities the largest disclosed private supersector; these are covered jobs and wages, not resident employment, unemployment or a forecast. Missing sale-price, submarket-rent, flood-zone, insurance-quote, condition, lease and financing evidence prevents parcel-level return or resilience conclusions. Check these, tax assessments and competing rentals before treating county signals as property economics.
This view uses 12 direct Zillow ZIP markets matched to Census ZCTAs. Each ZIP is assigned by its largest HUD residential county share; this is not an exhaustive county inventory.
Within the selected ZIP/ZCTA matches, Zillow’s June 2026 ZORI—a typical observed asking-rent index—runs from $854 to $1,622, producing a $768 spread around a $1,297 median. The county ZORI is $1,345, but that county figure should not stand in for a particular ZIP or listing. Annual ZORI movement also differs, from 0.8 percent to 4.5 percent versus 2.7 percent countywide. The spread is large enough that household budget screening should begin with a live property quote rather than the county figure. The decision is not which ZIP is generically affordable; it is whether a currently available unit’s asking rent, configuration, and lease terms fit a household’s budget after property-level review.
ACS 2024 five-year ZCTA median gross rents range from $785 to $1,261, a survey measure with a different period and construct from ZORI. Every selected ZIP shows a FY 2026 HUD two-bedroom standard of $1,054, while the countywide two-bedroom FMR is $1,141. HUD is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. ACS rents and HUD standards answer different questions: one reports survey outcomes and the other supports program administration. Against the ZIP HUD standard, ZORI spans 81.0 percent to 153.9 percent; that is a benchmark comparison, not an assertion that either measure is the other or that every listed unit has two bedrooms.
The ACS five-year burden and vacancy lens introduces a separate trade-off. County estimates put 46.97 percent of renter households at 30 percent or more of income devoted to rent and show a 4.42 percent vacancy rate. In 68508, the corresponding measures are 55.28 percent burdened and 10.77 percent vacant; in 68512 they are 34.63 percent and 1.68 percent. These pairings do not establish that vacancy reduces burden or that vacancy measures active rental listings. The burden measure concerns existing renter households, while vacancy is not the count or price of rentals that can actually be leased. Use both as separate survey indicators for budget screening and availability checks with current listing information and household-specific income.
Geographic and coverage limits are material. The HUD–USPS crosswalk assigns each display ZIP to the county holding the largest residential-address share; every shown match has a 100.0 percent Lancaster County share, yet ZIPs can cross county lines and Census ZCTAs are statistical areas rather than USPS delivery ZIPs. The 12 shown matches cover 50,726 renter households but derive from 14 eligible matches, so they are not an exhaustive county inventory. Selection also does not substitute for unit-level evidence. Before acting on any comparison, check the property’s current advertised rent, availability date, bedroom count, lease term, utilities and mandatory fees, eligibility rules, actual address, and delivery ZIP.
14 ZIP profiles passed the county gate; the 12 with the most renter households are shown.
| ZIP / ZCTA | Zillow asking rent | ACS gross rent | HUD 2BR | Burden 30%+ | Vacancy | Income screen | HUD county share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68521 | $1,502 | $1,231 | $1,054 | 54.9% | 3.9% | $60k | 100.0% |
| 68516 → | $1,501 | $1,261 | $1,054 | 42.2% | 2.7% | $60k | 100.0% |
| 68508 | $854 | $785 | $1,054 | 55.3% | 10.8% | $34k | 100.0% |
| 68504 | $1,216 | $1,064 | $1,054 | 37.8% | 6.1% | $49k | 100.0% |
| 68502 | $1,011 | $850 | $1,054 | 40.9% | 5.4% | $40k | 100.0% |
| 68506 | $1,280 | $1,180 | $1,054 | 50.6% | 4.4% | $51k | 100.0% |
| 68503 | $1,222 | $1,023 | $1,054 | 46.4% | 7.7% | $49k | 100.0% |
| 68510 | $1,011 | $892 | $1,054 | 36.6% | 5.9% | $40k | 100.0% |
| 68505 | $1,369 | $1,157 | $1,054 | 41.0% | 1.3% | $55k | 100.0% |
| 68507 | $1,622 | $882 | $1,054 | 49.5% | 4.0% | $65k | 100.0% |
| 68512 | $1,468 | $1,251 | $1,054 | 34.6% | 1.7% | $59k | 100.0% |
| 68522 | $1,314 | $1,204 | $1,054 | 48.9% | 2.4% | $53k | 100.0% |
Open a five-digit report for asking rent, affordability, rent history and resale liquidity. Each row keeps its ZIP/ZCTA measurement scope.
| ZIP report | City label | Zillow rent | 1Y change | ACS burden 30%+ | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZIP 68521 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $1,502 | ▲ 3.5% | 54.9% | 37,050 |
| ZIP 68516 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $1,501 | ▲ 3.4% | 42.2% | 48,903 |
| ZIP 68526 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $1,410 | ▲ 2.4% | 67.2% | 7,944 |
| ZIP 68506 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $1,280 | ▲ 4.0% | 50.6% | 27,531 |
| ZIP 68502 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $1,011 | ▲ 1.5% | 40.9% | 25,846 |
| ZIP 68508 rental reportLancaster County | Lincoln, NE | $854 | ▲ 1.1% | 55.3% | 18,163 |
Zillow ZORI is an asking-rent index. ACS burden and population describe the Census ZCTA; missing observations remain n/a.
Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.
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.
0.135% of building value expected lost per year
$4,204 median annual bill
6,862 in · 6,955 out
$56,717 arriving · $61,460 leaving
530 of 4,195 mortgages
Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.
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.
| County | Population | Price | Rent | Yield | Hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster County | 326,696 | $306k | $1,345 | 5.3% | inland flooding |
| Seward County | 17,641 | $322k | n/a | n/a | inland flooding |
No. It is a gross yield based on market asking rent before expenses.
No. The record identifies HUD FMR as a payment standard, separate from measured market asking rent.
No. It measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces located in the county.