Counties / Pennsylvania / Monroe County

Monroe County, PA

FIPS 42089 · population 167,515 · part of East Stroudsburg, PA

$319k
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
$319k
▲ 1.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,910
▲ 7.1% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
7.2%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,529
market rent is 1.25x 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+64.5%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.1%FHFA HPI2025+7.2%
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$268k
Surveyed gross rent$1,393
Rent burden 30%+57.0%
Median year built1984
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
23.1%vacant
79,607estimated housing units
Occupied tenure19.8% renter
owner 80.2%renter 19.8%
Structure mix88.5% single-family
Single-family 88.5%20+ units 1.4%Mobile home 3.4%Other 6.7%
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 jobs57,135▲ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments3,735annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,066▲ 3.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities25.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+3.5%Trade, transportation, and utilities25.9%
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

Monroe County poses a tension: modest Zillow home-value growth versus stronger FHFA index appreciation, while the rent figure permits only an initial gross screen. Zillow’s June 2026 median home value was $319,442, up 1.11%; FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 7.22%. The measures share neither method nor vintage: HPI is not a home value, and their growth rates cannot be combined. Buyers able to validate asset income and costs should investigate; those relying on county averages for exit pricing should be cautious.

02Housing economics

At that Zillow observation, median asking rent was $1,910 monthly, up 7.07%, with a supplied 7.18% gross yield before costs. This is market asking-rent evidence, not collected rent or operating income. HUD’s reported FMR, $1,529 monthly, is a payment standard—not an asking-rent estimate—and cannot substitute for market rent in yield. The effective property-tax rate is 1.66%, with $4,447 median annual tax. Missing insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management and financing costs prevent net-yield, debt-service or cash-flow conclusions.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS market had 905 active listings and 15.25% with price reductions. These are visible asking-market supply and seller-concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s annual data list 57,135 covered jobs at county workplaces, up 0.34%; this is not resident employment. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Net migration was negative by 491 tax-return households, although incoming movers’ average income was $4,498 higher. The record reports a 17.01% investor share across 2,351 total purchases; that indicates participation, not rental demand or asset quality.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss is 0.10% of building value, with inland flood the named dominant hazard; it is not a property-level damage estimate. Flood-zone status, claims history, insurance quotes, closed-sale comparables, unit-level rent comps and local vacancy are not published. Their absence prevents conclusions on insurability, achievable rent, sale liquidity and net returns. Next checks are address-level flood and insurance review, actual tax bills, executed leases, operating statements and comparable closed sales.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Monroe 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
East Stroudsburg borough9.3KArlington Heights CDP6.8KSierra View CDP6.4KStroudsburg borough5.9KSaw Creek CDP*4.4KIndian Mountain Lake CDP*3.9KPenn Estates CDP3.7KMount Pocono borough3.1K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

17 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    East Stroudsburg boroughIncorporated place
    9,319
  2. 02
    Arlington Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    6,847
  3. 03
    Sierra View CDPCensus-designated place
    6,365
  4. 04
    Stroudsburg boroughIncorporated place
    5,894
  5. 05
    Saw Creek CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    4,422
  6. 06
    Indian Mountain Lake CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    3,889
  7. 07
    Penn Estates CDPCensus-designated place
    3,659
  8. 08
    Mount Pocono boroughIncorporated place
    3,072
  9. 09
    Emerald Lakes CDPCensus-designated place
    2,716
  10. 10
    Sun Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    2,529
  11. 11
    Brodheadsville CDPCensus-designated place
    1,774
  12. 12
    Effort CDPCensus-designated place
    1,743
Show 5 more places
  1. 13
    Pocono Pines CDPCensus-designated place
    953
  2. 14
    Mountainhome CDPCensus-designated place
    887
  3. 15
    Saylorsburg CDPCensus-designated place
    804
  4. 16
    Delaware Water Gap boroughIncorporated place
    738
  5. 17
    Gouldsboro CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    713

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

0.099% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.66%

$4,447 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-491

4,277 in · 4,768 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$4,498

$68,582 arriving · $64,084 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors17.0%

400 of 2,351 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 listings905▼ 5.8% year over year
Median days on market52▼ 8.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced15.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 4.5% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Actual flood insurance and related carrying costs may overwhelm the supplied pre-cost gross yield.
  2. Asking rents and MLS listings may not translate into executed leases or closed-sale values for a target property.
  3. County-wide job and migration measures may conceal neighborhood-level vacancy or sale-liquidity weakness.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Does HUD FMR establish prevailing market rent?

No. The reported FMR is a payment standard and cannot substitute for the published Zillow asking-rent measure in a yield calculation.

What does the QCEW employment figure measure?

It measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment, unemployment or a forecast.

Can this record support a net-return conclusion?

No. Insurance, operating expenses, vacancy, financing terms, executed leases and property-level tax information are not published.