Counties / Kentucky / Lyon County

Lyon County, KY

FIPS 21143 · population 8,900 · 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
▼ 10.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$747
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
$866
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+50.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−10.8%FHFA HPI2025+4.8%
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$190k
Surveyed gross rent$747
Rent burden 30%+36.2%
Median year built1989
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
29.5%vacant
4,847estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.6% renter
owner 80.4%renter 19.6%
Structure mix72.8% single-family
Single-family 72.8%20+ units 0.7%Mobile home 16.4%Other 10.0%
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 jobs2,595▼ 2.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments292annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$945▲ 6.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality26.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−2.9%WEEKLY WAGE+6.2%Leisure and hospitality26.6%
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 poses a price-direction tension: Zillow’s county median home value was $179,438 at 2026-06, down 10.82% year over year. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI gained 4.81% in 2025 and shows 50.87% cumulative five-year change, while the supplied Realtor.com MLS snapshot shows median listing price up 32.97%. These are not interchangeable: FHFA is an index, listings are asking prices, and Zillow and FHFA have different supplied periods. Buyers needing one verified price trend should be cautious; property-level investigators begin with mixed county evidence.

02Housing economics

No median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed from the Zillow value. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $866 per month is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate, and cannot substitute. The effective property-tax rate is 0.63%, a carrying-cost input requiring parcel assessment verification. Missing leases, vacancy, utilities, insurance and maintenance prevent income coverage or cash-flow conclusions.

03Demand & competition

County-workplace QCEW reports 2,595 annual average covered jobs, down 2.92%, and a $945 average weekly covered-worker wage; leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. In the Realtor.com MLS market, active supply increased, median marketing time was 86 days, and 20.42% of listings had a price reduction, a seller-concession measure. These visible-listing measures and the pending ratio do not prove buyer demand or closed-sale pricing. Net migration was 43 tax-return households, with incoming mover average AGI exceeding outgoing by $2,954. Investor purchases were 6 of 106, or 5.66%, of total purchases.

04Risk & next checks

The modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.20% of building value per year, with inland flood named as dominant hazard. It is county-level modeled exposure, not a parcel flood determination, insurance quote or realized loss. Missing closed-sale comparables, flood-zone status, insurance terms and property expenses prevent conclusions on resale execution and property-specific hazard cost. Check achieved rents, operating expenses, tax assessment, flood history and insurance terms.

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
Eddyville city2.9KKuttawa city588
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
    Eddyville cityIncorporated place
    2,897
  2. 02
    Kuttawa cityIncorporated place
    588

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

0.202% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.63%

$1,196 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+43

250 in · 207 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$2,954

$61,196 arriving · $58,242 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.7%

6 of 106 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 listings51▲ 3.1% year over year
Median days on market86▲ 25.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 33.0% 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. Achievable market rent or vacancy could be insufficient, and neither is published.
  2. Parcel flood exposure and insurance costs may differ materially from the county-level modeled loss measure.
  3. MLS listing conditions may not translate into closed-sale values or resale liquidity.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a market-rent gross yield available from this record?

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

What employment measure does the record provide?

It provides annual QCEW covered employment at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.

What is the named dominant hazard?

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard.