Counties / Pennsylvania / McKean County

McKean County, PA

FIPS 42083 · population 39,904 · outside every metro area

$118k
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
$118k
▼ 2.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$809
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
$973
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+39.2%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−2.9%FHFA HPI2025+4.1%
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$105k
Surveyed gross rent$809
Rent burden 30%+41.5%
Median year built1953
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
15.9%vacant
19,465estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.1% renter
owner 78.0%renter 22.1%
Structure mix80.1% single-family
Single-family 80.1%20+ units 2.1%Mobile home 9.3%Other 8.5%
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 jobs13,775▼ 1.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,056annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$999▲ 3.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing25.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.1%WEEKLY WAGE+3.4%Manufacturing25.0%
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

McKean County poses a valuation-versus-liquidity tension. Zillow’s county median home value was $118,167 in 2026-06, down 2.85% year over year; FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.08%. Investors able to verify current comparable sales should investigate, while buyers needing a quick resale should be cautious. These are not a common growth rate: Zillow is a modeled value observation, while FHFA is a repeat-transaction index at a different vintage.

02Housing economics

Rental underwriting remains incomplete. Median asking market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent proxy. The 1.59% effective property-tax rate is a recurring-cost marker to test against a parcel’s assessment and rent roll; it does not establish operating expenses, insurance, debt service, vacancy, or cash flow. County-level price and tax data cannot price a specific asset.

03Demand & competition

June MLS evidence favors patience, not proof of buyer demand: active listings rose 19.75% year over year, median marketing time was 61 days, and 18.16% of listings carried price reductions. These Realtor.com measures describe asking prices and visible supply, not closed sales or absorption. Demand support is mixed: QCEW annual covered jobs at county workplaces fell 1.11%, while average covered-worker weekly wage increased 3.42%; Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector. Tax-return migration was negative by 93 households, with slightly lower average income arriving than departing. Investors represented 3.39% of 177 recorded purchase mortgages, a limited signal of non-owner competition rather than cash-buyer activity.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard. Modeled climate loss is 0.15% of building value per year, a county-level ratio rather than a parcel flood finding. Insurance availability, deductible, elevation, and prior losses are not published. Missing property type, condition, neighborhood sale and rent comps, vacancy, capex, financing terms, and parcel assessment prevent gross-yield, cash-flow, resale-liquidity, and property-specific hazard conclusions. Next checks are parcel flood and insurance files, rent comps, closed sales, and tax assessment.

Cities & communities

Where people live within McKean 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
Bradford city7.7KKane borough3.5KPort Allegany borough2.4KSmethport borough1.5KUniversity of Pittsburgh…974Foster Brook CDP942Mount Jewett borough674Lewis Run borough570
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

10 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Bradford cityIncorporated place
    7,683
  2. 02
    Kane boroughIncorporated place
    3,537
  3. 03
    Port Allegany boroughIncorporated place
    2,356
  4. 04
    Smethport boroughIncorporated place
    1,462
  5. 05
    University of Pittsburgh Bradford CDPCensus-designated place
    974
  6. 06
    Foster Brook CDPCensus-designated place
    942
  7. 07
    Mount Jewett boroughIncorporated place
    674
  8. 08
    Lewis Run boroughIncorporated place
    570
  9. 09
    Eldred boroughIncorporated place
    566
  10. 10
    Rew CDPCensus-designated place
    200

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

0.151% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.59%

$1,660 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-93

601 in · 694 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$115

$50,218 arriving · $50,333 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.4%

6 of 177 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 listings97▲ 19.8% year over year
Median days on market61▲ 31.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 12.4% 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. County aggregates may diverge sharply from the target property’s neighborhood, condition, and comparable sales.
  2. Unpublished market rent, vacancy, and operating expenses could materially change yield and cash-flow conclusions.
  3. Parcel-level flood exposure, insurance terms, and tax assessment could exceed county-level modeled and average measures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Median asking market rent is not published, and HUD FMR is only a payment standard.

What does the QCEW employment series measure here?

It measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces in McKean County, not resident employment or unemployment.

Does the climate-loss figure establish a property’s flood exposure?

No. It is a modeled county-level building-value loss ratio; parcel flood status and insurance details are not published.