Counties / Missouri / Livingston County

Livingston County, MO

FIPS 29117 · population 14,364 · outside every metro area

$198k
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
$198k
▲ 3.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$768
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
$888
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+45.4%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.8%FHFA HPI2025−2.9%
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$148k
Surveyed gross rent$768
Rent burden 30%+32.7%
Median year built1968
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
12.4%vacant
6,399estimated housing units
Occupied tenure27.7% renter
owner 72.3%renter 27.7%
Structure mix85.0% single-family
Single-family 85.0%20+ units 1.5%Mobile home 4.8%Other 8.6%
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 jobs6,114▼ 0.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments488annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$889▲ 2.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities33.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.7%WEEKLY WAGE+2.9%Trade, transportation, and utilities33.4%
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

Livingston County’s central tension is an upward Zillow value observation beside a falling transaction index, making it a file for appreciation- or yield-dependent buyers to investigate cautiously. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value was $197,547, while the 2025 FHFA repeat-transaction HPI declined 2.94% year over year. FHFA is an index, not a home value; its vintage and method cannot be merged with Zillow into one growth rate. The conflict calls for sale-comp and appraisal review before relying on price direction.

02Housing economics

Income underwriting is incomplete: market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The $888 HUD FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of local asking rent, and cannot substitute for rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.81%; its cash-flow effect cannot be assessed without local lease comps, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, financing and other operating-cost evidence, none of which is published here.

03Demand & competition

In Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS snapshot, median listing price rose 6.34%, while 38 active listings were down 15.73%. Median marketing time was 47 days, and 9.88% of listings had price reductions, a seller-concession measure. These are asking-price, visible-supply, marketing-time and concession indicators—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was net positive by 47 households, but movers-in had average AGI $2,474 below movers-out. Investor activity was 16 non-occupant purchase mortgages among 144 purchases, or 11.11%.

04Risk & next checks

The 2025 QCEW record shows covered employment at county workplaces declined 0.68%; it is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole county economy. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.13% of building value; that ratio should not be converted into a property-dollar loss. Next checks are parcel flood maps, elevation, insurance quotes, local lease and vacancy evidence, and closed-sale comps; without them, cash flow, absorption and parcel-level exposure cannot be underwritten.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Livingston 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
Chillicothe city8.9KUtica village211Chula city159Wheeling city157Ludlow town153Dawn CDP111Mooresville village93Avalon CDP47
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Chillicothe cityIncorporated place
    8,923
  2. 02
    Utica villageIncorporated place
    211
  3. 03
    Chula cityIncorporated place
    159
  4. 04
    Wheeling cityIncorporated place
    157
  5. 05
    Ludlow townIncorporated place
    153
  6. 06
    Dawn CDPCensus-designated place
    111
  7. 07
    Mooresville villageIncorporated place
    93
  8. 08
    Avalon CDPCensus-designated place
    47

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

0.132% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.81%

$1,202 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+47

362 in · 315 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$2,474

$46,688 arriving · $49,162 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors11.1%

16 of 144 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 listings38▼ 15.7% year over year
Median days on market47▼ 33.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced9.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 6.3% 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. Zillow and FHFA may continue to diverge because their methods and observation periods differ, leaving transaction-price support unconfirmed.
  2. Unpublished market rent, vacancy and operating costs could materially change the carrying-cost and cash-flow picture.
  3. County-level flood modeling may not identify a specific property’s flood exposure, insurability or mitigation needs.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the supplied record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as market rent.

What does the FHFA result measure?

It measures change in a repeat-transaction home-price index, not a dollar home value or Zillow-equivalent appreciation rate.

How much investor participation is recorded?

There were 16 non-occupant investor purchase mortgages among 144 purchases, equal to 11.11%.