Counties / Minnesota / Meeker County

Meeker County, MN

FIPS 27093 · population 23,468 · outside every metro area

$297k
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
$297k
▲ 6.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$904
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
$997
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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+52.5%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.3%FHFA HPI2025+5.3%
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$249k
Surveyed gross rent$904
Rent burden 30%+45.9%
Median year built1975
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
12.9%vacant
10,735estimated housing units
Occupied tenure20.7% renter
owner 79.3%renter 20.7%
Structure mix83.8% single-family
Single-family 83.8%20+ units 2.8%Mobile home 4.9%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 jobs7,794▼ 3.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments700annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,045▲ 0.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing29.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−3.1%WEEKLY WAGE+0.9%Manufacturing29.7%
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

Meeker County’s tension is measured home-price appreciation versus an unmeasured rent base, weakening workplace employment, and flood-related carrying risk. Income-focused landlords should investigate leases and insurance; files relying on assumed rent or a short resale window warrant caution. Zillow’s 2026-06 observation put county median home value at $297,461, up 6.31% year over year. FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction index rose 5.27% annually and 52.51% cumulatively over five years. It supports direction, not a dollar value; its method and vintage cannot be averaged with Zillow.

02Housing economics

No county market asking rent is published; therefore gross yield cannot be calculated. The $997 HUD FMR is a payment standard, not measured asking rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.9%, with $2,243 median annual tax. Modeled climate loss equals 0.12% of building value per year and accords with inland flood as the dominant hazard. These are carrying-cost and resilience checks, not a valuation or realized-loss measure.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s separate 2026-06 MLS listing market showed 59 active listings and reported marketing-time and price-reduction measures. These are visible asking-market supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession indicators—not closed-sale prices or standalone buyer-demand proof. QCEW recorded 7,794 annual average covered jobs at county workplaces, down 3.08% from the prior annual average; Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Departures exceeded arrivals, but average AGI was higher for incoming than outgoing tax-return movers. Investors accounted for 3.9% of 231 purchases, a limited recorded non-owner-occupant share rather than the whole buyer pool.

04Risk & next checks

Limits are material: lease comps, vacancy, tenant incomes, closed-sale transactions, property-level flood zones, insurance quotes, deductible terms, condition, and financing costs are not published. Their absence prevents gross-yield, debt-service, post-expense cash-flow, and property-specific resilience conclusions. Next checks should compare actual lease terms with taxes and insurance, verify flood exposure and mitigation by parcel, and test recent closed transactions against the listing evidence. County aggregates cannot establish neighborhood-level renter depth, buyer demand, or loss experience.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Meeker 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
Litchfield city6.6KDassel city1.4KEden Valley city*1KGrove City city814Watkins city765Cosmos city536Darwin city358Kingston city206
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
    Litchfield cityIncorporated place
    6,576
  2. 02
    Dassel cityIncorporated place
    1,358
  3. 03
    Eden Valley cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,002
  4. 04
    Grove City cityIncorporated place
    814
  5. 05
    Watkins cityIncorporated place
    765
  6. 06
    Cosmos cityIncorporated place
    536
  7. 07
    Darwin cityIncorporated place
    358
  8. 08
    Kingston cityIncorporated place
    206
  9. 09
    Cedar Mills cityIncorporated place
    40

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

0.124% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.90%

$2,243 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-80

562 in · 642 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,151

$59,039 arriving · $53,888 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.9%

9 of 231 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 listings59▲ 9.3% year over year
Median days on market40▲ 7.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced19.6%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 1.8% 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. Actual market rent, vacancy, and operating costs may not support the purchase basis.
  2. Parcel-level flood exposure, insurance pricing, or mitigation needs may exceed the county modeled loss measure.
  3. County-level price and listing evidence may not represent the target neighborhood or property condition.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from the supplied record?

No. County market asking rent is not published, and the $997 HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent.

What does the supplied labor evidence show?

QCEW reports 7,794 annual average covered jobs at county workplaces in 2025, down 3.08% from the prior annual average. Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector.

How large was recorded investor purchasing?

There were 9 investor purchases among 231 total purchases, equal to a 3.9% investor share.