Counties / Texas / Limestone County

Limestone County, TX

FIPS 48293 · population 22,283 · outside every metro area

$179k
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
$179k
▼ 1.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$982
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.6%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$973
market rent is 1.01x 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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+52.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.9%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$164k
Surveyed gross rent$905
Rent burden 30%+46.2%
Median year built1983
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
19.7%vacant
10,443estimated housing units
Occupied tenure27.9% renter
owner 72.1%renter 27.9%
Structure mix70.9% single-family
Single-family 70.9%20+ units 0.8%Mobile home 18.6%Other 9.7%
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 jobs8,649▼ 0.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments398annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,212▼ 4.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities24.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.8%WEEKLY WAGE−4.9%Trade, transportation, and utilities24.4%
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

Limestone County presents a carry-versus-exit tension: the Zillow county median home value was $178,567 in 2026-06, down 1.91% year over year, while the FHFA repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.35% in 2025. Those observations differ in vintage and method and cannot be combined into one appreciation measure. Investigate buyers able to underwrite income and resale locally; be cautious where the case depends on a single price trend.

02Housing economics

At that value, the published median asking rent is $982 per month and published gross yield is 6.60% before costs, providing a starting income measure rather than net return. HUD's two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market asking rent and not a yield input. The effective property-tax rate is 1.19%; it should be tested against assessed value and tax-bill treatment. Insurance, repairs, vacancy, financing, and property-specific operating costs are not published, preventing net-yield or cash-flow conclusions.

03Demand & competition

MLS evidence from Realtor.com for 2026-06 shows 142 active listings, 8.43% more than a year earlier, a 98-day median marketing time, and 12.41% of listings reduced. This visible supply and concession evidence warrants current comparable-listing review, but it is neither closed-sale pricing nor proof of buyer demand. QCEW's 2025 annual workplace covered employment fell 0.78%; it is not resident employment or an outlook. Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Net tax-return migration was 11, with inbound mover average AGI $8,746 above outbound. Investor purchase mortgages were 9.19% of 185 purchases, an identifiable but limited competing buyer segment.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate-loss ratio is 0.09% of building value. This is not a property loss estimate; underwriters need flood-zone, elevation, prior-loss, coverage, deductible, and premium records. Also unavailable are submarket sale comparables, lease-up and renewal performance, property condition, and parcel-level tax data. Those gaps prevent a firm resale-liquidity, insurance-cost, or asset-level cash-flow conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Limestone 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
Mexia city6.9KGroesbeck city3.9KMart city*1.7KCoolidge town754Thornton town565Kosse town430Tehuacana town341
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Mexia cityIncorporated place
    6,859
  2. 02
    Groesbeck cityIncorporated place
    3,914
  3. 03
    Mart cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,704
  4. 04
    Coolidge townIncorporated place
    754
  5. 05
    Thornton townIncorporated place
    565
  6. 06
    Kosse townIncorporated place
    430
  7. 07
    Tehuacana townIncorporated place
    341

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

0.090% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.19%

$1,953 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+11

545 in · 534 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$8,746

$58,980 arriving · $50,234 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.2%

17 of 185 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 listings142▲ 8.4% year over year
Median days on market98▲ 48.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced12.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.1% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. The Zillow and FHFA measures may ultimately align with weaker achievable resale pricing.
  2. Flood insurance or property-specific mitigation costs could consume the gross-income cushion.
  3. Listing supply, concessions, and declining covered employment may leave resale or leasing slower than assumed.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is measured market rent available for underwriting?

Yes. Median asking rent and gross yield are published, although operating costs needed for net yield are not.

How should the HUD Fair Market Rent figure be used?

As a two-bedroom payment standard only, not as an estimate of asking rent or as a yield input.

What is the county's named dominant hazard?

Inland flood.