Counties / Indiana / Marion County

Marion County, IN

FIPS 18097 · population 975,809 · part of Indianapolis, IN

$234k
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
$234k
▼ 0.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,416
▲ 2.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
7.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,473
market rent is 0.96x 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+47.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.5%FHFA HPI2025+3.4%
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$224k
Surveyed gross rent$1,153
Rent burden 30%+50.9%
Median year built1973
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
9.2%vacant
441,040estimated housing units
Occupied tenure43.5% renter
owner 56.5%renter 43.5%
Structure mix66.9% single-family
Single-family 66.9%20+ units 8.8%Mobile home 1.6%Other 22.8%
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 jobs624,913▼ 0.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments29,096annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,551▲ 5.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services22.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.1%WEEKLY WAGE+5.9%Education and health services22.0%
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

Marion County presents a tension between a reported 7.26% gross yield before costs and softer visible resale conditions alongside out-migration. Cash-flow-focused investigators should test rental submarkets, while buyers dependent on quick resale or broad buyer depth should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value of $234,107 and median asking rent of $1,416 per month support the supplied gross-yield measure, but not a net-return conclusion.

02Housing economics

At Zillow’s observation, median home value fell 0.50% year over year while asking rent rose 2.17%. That split warrants testing income coverage rather than assuming appreciation. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.42% in 2025; it is an index rather than a home value, and its vintage and method differ from Zillow’s measure, so the rates are not combinable. Carrying costs matter: the effective property-tax rate is 0.91%. HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot replace the published market rent.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence shows active listings up 23.47% and 28.07% of listings carrying price reductions: visible supply and seller concessions, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW annual covered jobs at county workplaces fell 0.10%; this is neither resident employment nor a forecast. Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Tax-return movers produced net migration of negative 2,732, while outgoing movers’ average income exceeded incoming movers’ by $11,324. Nonoccupant mortgage purchases were 1,145 of 12,074, or 9.48%; that measures mortgage-financed investor participation, not every investor acquisition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual building-value loss is 0.12%. That model does not identify a parcel’s flood zone, insurability, premium, or deductible. Property-level flood and insurance evidence is needed to underwrite hazard carrying costs. Lease comps, vacancy, turnover, and operating expenses are not published here, preventing a net-yield calculation; closed-sale comparables and financing terms are also absent, preventing an exit-liquidity conclusion. County-level labor, migration, and listing measures cannot resolve neighborhood demand.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Marion 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
Indianapolis city (balance)885.9KLawrence city49.5KBeech Grove city14.9KSpeedway town14KCumberland town*6.3KSouthport city2KMeridian Hills town1.8KWarren Park town1.6K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

16 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Indianapolis city (balance)Census place
    885,860
  2. 02
    Lawrence cityIncorporated place
    49,517
  3. 03
    Beech Grove cityIncorporated place
    14,913
  4. 04
    Speedway townIncorporated place
    13,968
  5. 05
    Cumberland townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    6,267
  6. 06
    Southport cityIncorporated place
    1,975
  7. 07
    Meridian Hills townIncorporated place
    1,767
  8. 08
    Warren Park townIncorporated place
    1,599
  9. 09
    Clermont townIncorporated place
    1,468
  10. 10
    Homecroft townIncorporated place
    854
  11. 11
    Rocky Ripple townIncorporated place
    631
  12. 12
    Williams Creek townIncorporated place
    417
Show 4 more places
  1. 13
    Wynnedale townIncorporated place
    210
  2. 14
    Crows Nest townIncorporated place
    109
  3. 15
    North Crows Nest townIncorporated place
    75
  4. 16
    Spring Hill townIncorporated place
    74

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

0.118% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.91%

$2,028 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-2,732

26,406 in · 29,138 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$11,324

$55,172 arriving · $66,496 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.5%

1,145 of 12,074 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 listings2,778▲ 23.5% year over year
Median days on market48▲ 8.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced28.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 3.4% 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 Indianapolis, IN

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
Marion County975,809$234k$1,4167.3%inland flooding
Hamilton County365,056$471k$1,8374.7%inland flooding
Hendricks County183,344$349k$1,8696.4%inland flooding
Johnson County166,315$318k$1,6416.2%inland flooding
Madison County131,900$194k$1,0876.7%inland flooding
Hancock County84,037$334k$1,6956.1%inland flooding
Boone County74,718$425k$1,9305.5%inland flooding
Morgan County72,659$304k$1,6526.5%inland flooding
Shelby County45,265$249k$1,1435.5%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished neighborhood rents, vacancy, operating expenses, and turnover could make the county gross-yield signal unrepresentative of net performance.
  2. Parcel-specific flood exposure and insurance terms could materially differ from the county climate model.
  3. Countywide MLS, migration, and workplace-employment data may mask materially different submarket demand and resale conditions.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be computed from the published record?

Yes. The record publishes market rent and supplies a gross-yield measure before costs.

Does HUD two-bedroom Fair Market Rent establish local asking rent?

No. It is identified as a payment standard and not an estimate of asking rent.

Does the investor-share measure cover every investor acquisition?

No. It measures purchase mortgages to nonoccupants rather than all investor acquisitions.