Counties / Kansas / Lyon County

Lyon County, KS

FIPS 20111 · population 32,186 · part of Emporia, KS

$195k
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
$195k
▲ 5.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$806
▲ 7.6% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.0%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$877
market rent is 0.92x 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+41.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+5.6%FHFA HPI2025+0.7%
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$151k
Surveyed gross rent$817
Rent burden 30%+41.3%
Median year built1970
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
10.3%vacant
15,027estimated housing units
Occupied tenure42.1% renter
owner 57.9%renter 42.1%
Structure mix62.3% single-family
Single-family 62.3%20+ units 6.8%Mobile home 9.3%Other 21.7%
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 jobs14,665▼ 4.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments860annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$951▲ 4.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing32.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−4.5%WEEKLY WAGE+4.2%Manufacturing32.6%
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

Lyon County presents a carry-cost-versus-demand tension: cash-flow investigators have a published rent input and an initially modest gross return, while buyers dependent on continued liquidity or appreciation should be cautious. In Zillow’s county observation for 2026-06, the median home value was $195,483 and median asking market rent was $806 per month. The supplied gross yield is 4.95% before taxes, insurance, vacancy, repairs, or financing; it is calculated from market rent, not a subsidy standard.

02Housing economics

Carrying costs may narrow that headline yield. The effective property-tax rate is 1.55%, requiring property-level tax verification rather than reliance on a county median. HUD’s $877 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot replace measured rent or create a different yield. Zillow reports price and rent gains in its county observation. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 0.65% year over year and 41.83% across five years; it is an index, not a dollar value, and cannot be averaged with Zillow’s different-vintage, different-method series.

03Demand & competition

Listing evidence complicates the demand read: Realtor.com’s MLS market shows fewer active listings but longer marketing times and price reductions. Those are asking-market supply and seller-concession signals, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s 2025 annual covered employment at county workplaces fell 4.51%; Manufacturing, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounted for 32.63% of private covered jobs. Tax-return migration was net outflow, and average income of inbound movers was lower than that of outbound movers. Non-occupant purchase mortgages were 32 of 228, a calculated 14.04%, indicating participation but not dominance or investor purchase performance.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled climate loss equals 0.14% of building value per year, a county-level expectation rather than a site-specific flood loss. The record does not publish vacancy, operating expenses, insurance premiums, flood-zone/elevation data, financing terms, closed-sale prices, unit mix, or neighborhood rent comps. Those omissions prevent a net-yield estimate, a site-level hazard assessment, and a reliable conclusion on exit liquidity; next checks should obtain them at the address and comparable-sale level.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lyon 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
Emporia city24.1KAmericus city955Olpe city565Hartford city428Allen city287Neosho Rapids city276Reading city198Admire city144
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

9 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Emporia cityIncorporated place
    24,131
  2. 02
    Americus cityIncorporated place
    955
  3. 03
    Olpe cityIncorporated place
    565
  4. 04
    Hartford cityIncorporated place
    428
  5. 05
    Allen cityIncorporated place
    287
  6. 06
    Neosho Rapids cityIncorporated place
    276
  7. 07
    Reading cityIncorporated place
    198
  8. 08
    Admire cityIncorporated place
    144
  9. 09
    Bushong cityIncorporated place
    46

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

0.144% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.55%

$2,341 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-32

789 in · 821 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$8,726

$38,554 arriving · $47,280 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors14.0%

32 of 228 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 listings67▼ 14.2% year over year
Median days on market49▲ 5.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced15.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 21.1% 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 Emporia, KS

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
Lyon County32,186$195k$8065.0%inland flooding
Chase County2,561$175kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Site-level flood zone, elevation, and insurance expense could be materially worse than county-level modeled exposure.
  2. Property condition, unit mix, and neighborhood could diverge from the county rent and value medians.
  3. Closed-sale comparables, vacancy, and operating costs may overturn the gross-yield and liquidity read.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the HUD two-bedroom FMR evidence of market asking rent?

No. It is a payment standard; median market asking rent is $806 monthly, versus an $877 FMR.

What does QCEW employment represent here?

Annual average covered jobs located at workplaces in Lyon County, not resident employment or unemployment; 14,665 jobs were reported.

How much investor purchase-mortgage participation is recorded?

Non-occupant purchase mortgages were 32 of 228 purchases, or 14.04%.