Counties / Kansas / Lincoln County

Lincoln County, KS

FIPS 20105 · population 2,923 · outside every metro area

$134k
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
$134k
▲ 10.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$634
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
$877
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+10.1%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$97k
Surveyed gross rent$634
Rent burden 30%+34.8%
Median year built1938
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
23.4%vacant
1,668estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.6% renter
owner 80.4%renter 19.6%
Structure mix90.0% single-family
Single-family 90.0%20+ units 2.4%Mobile home 4.1%Other 3.5%
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 jobs865▼ 4.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments107annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$889▲ 0.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities46.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−4.8%WEEKLY WAGE+0.9%Trade, transportation, and utilities46.3%
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

Lincoln County presents a price-versus-depth tension: Zillow’s county median home value was $134,431, up 10.05% year over year, while annual covered workplace employment fell 4.84% to 865. That combination warrants investigation by buyers able to validate a specific property’s tenant pool and resale liquidity; buyers relying on broad local growth should be cautious. Zillow’s measure is a home-value observation, not a closed-sale comp set.

02Housing economics

Housing economics cannot yet be underwritten to yield. Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $877 is a payment standard, not asking rent, and cannot substitute for it. The effective property-tax rate is 1.46%, with median annual tax of $1,419; neither establishes the tax bill for a target parcel. No FHFA annual HPI observation is supplied, so no repeat-transaction index can confirm or challenge Zillow’s direction.

03Demand & competition

Household movement points to a smaller tax-return mover flow: 43 moved in, 73 moved out, for net migration of negative 30. Incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $11,857, which describes mover income rather than tenant demand. Trade, transportation, and utilities represented 46.25% of disclosed private covered employment, a concentration to test against the property’s intended renter base. Of 9 recorded purchase mortgages, none were investor purchases; this measures the supplied financing slice, not all-cash buying or future competition. Realtor.com listing price, active listings, days on market, and price-reduction data are not published, preventing a visible MLS supply or marketing-time read.

04Risk & next checks

Risk limits remain material. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.21% of building value; it is a modeled loss ratio, not a parcel-specific insurance quote. Verify flood zone, insurance terms, condition, assessed value and tax bill, achievable market rent, lease-up history, and sale comparables. County-level evidence cannot establish property-level resilience, cash flow, or exit liquidity; absent rent and MLS evidence, those conclusions remain untested.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lincoln 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
Lincoln Center city1KSylvan Grove city314Beverly city132Barnard city97
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

4 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Lincoln Center cityIncorporated place
    1,017
  2. 02
    Sylvan Grove cityIncorporated place
    314
  3. 03
    Beverly cityIncorporated place
    132
  4. 04
    Barnard cityIncorporated place
    97

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

0.207% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.46%

$1,419 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-30

43 in · 73 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$11,857

$56,186 arriving · $44,329 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors0.0%

0 of 9 mortgages

investorother financed
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. Zillow’s appreciation signal may not translate to a supportable purchase price if property-level sales and MLS liquidity differ from the county measure.
  2. Missing market-rent evidence could reveal inadequate property income after operating costs and carrying costs.
  3. Flood exposure or insurance requirements may differ materially at the parcel level from the county modeled loss ratio.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than market asking rent.

What does the investor-purchase evidence establish?

It shows no investor purchases among the supplied purchase mortgages, but it does not measure all-cash transactions or future buyer competition.

What MLS liquidity evidence is available?

No Realtor.com median listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, or price-reduction figures are published.