Counties / Georgia / Lee County

Lee County, GA

FIPS 13177 · population 33,626 · part of Albany, GA

$269k
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
$269k
▲ 1.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,646
▲ 0.7% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
7.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,129
market rent is 1.46x 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+53.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.5%FHFA HPI2025+4.3%
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$232k
Surveyed gross rent$1,184
Rent burden 30%+41.6%
Median year built1998
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
5.6%vacant
13,012estimated housing units
Occupied tenure25.8% renter
owner 74.2%renter 25.8%
Structure mix78.3% single-family
Single-family 78.3%20+ units 0.6%Mobile home 9.2%Other 11.9%
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 jobs7,582▲ 3.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments641annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$931▲ 0.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities30.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.1%WEEKLY WAGE+0.5%Trade, transportation, and utilities30.4%
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

Lee County presents a yield-versus-depth decision: the reported 7.34% gross yield can appeal to an operator, but carrying costs and listing-market friction require asset-level validation. Investors relying on rapid rent resets or resale liquidity should be cautious; those investigating durable occupancy should test submarket demand, insurance, and taxes before treating the county measure as asset performance. The record does not publish vacancy, lease-renewal, or operating-expense data, preventing a net-income conclusion.

02Housing economics

Zillow’s county median home value is $269,039, while measured median asking rent is $1,646 per month. That rent-price pairing supports the reported gross yield, but the measure is annual market rent before financing, taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, or management. The effective property-tax rate is 0.97%, so the carrying-cost screen cannot stop at gross yield. HUD FMR is $1,129; it is a payment standard rather than an estimate of asking rent and cannot replace the measured rent in a lease-revenue case.

03Demand & competition

FHFA’s annual HPI rose 4.29%; it is a repeat-transaction appreciation index, not a dollar home value. Its supplied period differs from Zillow’s county observation, so neither series should be averaged nor presented as one growth interval. Realtor.com’s MLS snapshot shows 110 active listings, 60 median days on market, and a 21.09% price-reduced share. These are asking-market supply, marketing time, and seller concessions—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand by themselves. Investor mortgages made up 11.47% of 436 purchases. Tax-return migration was a net outflow, while incoming movers had lower average AGI than outgoing movers; this tempers the buyer-competition reading but remains county-level evidence.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.16% of building value. This is a modeled ratio, not an insurance quote or a property loss estimate. QCEW describes annual covered employment at county workplaces; it is not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Next checks are parcel flood zone, insurance terms, assessed value and tax bill, rent roll, tenant income, renewal history, and closed-sale comparables. Without them, net yield, financing resilience, and exit value cannot be underwritten.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lee 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
Leesburg city3.5KSmithville city285
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
    Leesburg cityIncorporated place
    3,542
  2. 02
    Smithville cityIncorporated place
    285

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

0.158% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.97%

$2,250 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-14

1,107 in · 1,121 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$8,803

$52,269 arriving · $61,072 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors11.5%

50 of 436 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 listings110▲ 25.0% year over year
Median days on market60▲ 34.6% year over year
Listings price-reduced21.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 6.2% 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 Albany, GA

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
Lee County33,626$269k$1,6467.3%inland flooding
Dougherty County83,091$129k$9298.6%inland flooding
Worth County20,451$176kn/an/ainland flooding
Terrell County8,850$121kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Actual vacancy, concessions, and operating costs could materially reduce net income from the gross-yield indication.
  2. Flood insurance availability, premiums, and repair exposure can differ sharply by parcel from the county modeled-loss ratio.
  3. County-level migration and MLS measures may not represent subject-neighborhood tenant or buyer depth.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What published rent figures are available for lease-revenue screening?

Median asking rent is $1,646 per month. HUD FMR is $1,129 and is explicitly a payment standard.

How large is reported investor participation in purchases?

Investor mortgages were 11.47% of 436 purchases.

What does the MLS listing snapshot show?

It shows 110 active listings, 60 median days on market, and a 21.09% price-reduced share.