Counties / North Carolina / Nash County

Nash County, NC

FIPS 37127 · population 96,216 · part of Rocky Mount, NC

$241k
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
$241k
▲ 1.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,369
▼ 3.8% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.8%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,143
market rent is 1.20x 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+60.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.2%FHFA HPI2025+3.0%
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$191k
Surveyed gross rent$953
Rent burden 30%+40.6%
Median year built1986
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.4%vacant
43,797estimated housing units
Occupied tenure36.4% renter
owner 63.6%renter 36.4%
Structure mix68.3% single-family
Single-family 68.3%20+ units 1.3%Mobile home 15.4%Other 15.0%
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 jobs40,233▲ 1.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments2,488annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,067▲ 1.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities23.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.9%WEEKLY WAGE+1.9%Trade, transportation, and utilities23.9%
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

Nash County’s decision tension is a stated 6.8% gross yield against weakening market rent: it merits investigation by buyers able to validate unit-level rents and flood costs, while investors depending on appreciation or rapid resale should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value was $241,448 and median asking rent was $1,369 per month; value increased 1.21% year over year while asking rent declined 3.82%. The gross yield is before costs, so it does not establish cash flow.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent and HUD FMR should not be merged. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; published market rent was above it. The effective property-tax rate was 0.71%, which narrows the relevance of the pre-cost yield. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.03% year over year. It supports the same upward price direction as Zillow, but the observations have different vintages and methods; FHFA is neither a home value nor a rate to average with Zillow.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing market points to a less tight visible resale setting: active supply increased 25.03% year over year, median marketing time was 66 days, and 24.07% of listings had a price reduction. These are asking-market supply and concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. Investor mortgages represented 7.39% of 1,177 purchases, limiting evidence of investor-led competition. Tax-return migration was net positive and incoming movers reported higher average income than outgoing movers, but neither establishes tenant absorption. The supplied QCEW annual record shows covered workplace employment increased; it is not resident employment, and trade, transportation, and utilities is only the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.14% of building value; neither figure substitutes for parcel flood-zone, elevation, claims, or insurance evidence. The thesis could fail if rent softness persists, MLS supply and concessions translate into lower realizable exit prices, or property-specific flood exposure and insurance costs overwhelm the pre-cost yield. Next checks are current lease rolls and achieved rents, tax and insurance quotes, flood due diligence, property condition, and closed-sale absorption data. Those missing inputs prevent a net-yield, financing, and resale underwriting conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Nash 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
Rocky Mount city*54.3KNashville town5.7KRed Oak town3.4KSharpsburg town*1.6KSpring Hope town1.4KElm City town*1.3KDortches town1.2KMiddlesex town867
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

12 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Rocky Mount cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    54,297
  2. 02
    Nashville townIncorporated place
    5,729
  3. 03
    Red Oak townIncorporated place
    3,405
  4. 04
    Sharpsburg townIncorporated place · spans 3 counties
    1,605
  5. 05
    Spring Hope townIncorporated place
    1,387
  6. 06
    Elm City townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,292
  7. 07
    Dortches townIncorporated place
    1,158
  8. 08
    Middlesex townIncorporated place
    867
  9. 09
    Whitakers townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    494
  10. 10
    Bailey townIncorporated place
    422
  11. 11
    Momeyer townIncorporated place
    398
  12. 12
    Castalia townIncorporated place
    247

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

0.140% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.71%

$1,362 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+155

2,702 in · 2,547 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$2,083

$52,981 arriving · $50,898 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.4%

87 of 1,177 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 listings452▲ 25.0% year over year
Median days on market66▲ 13.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced24.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 7.4% 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 Rocky Mount, NC

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
Nash County96,216$241k$1,3696.8%inland flooding
Edgecombe County48,736$141k$1,1359.7%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Further deterioration in achievable rents could erase the income case implied by the stated gross yield.
  2. Parcel-specific flood exposure, insurance premiums, or prior losses could exceed county-level modeled risk.
  3. MLS supply and seller concessions could produce weaker exits than listing evidence alone suggests.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a measured county market-rent figure available?

Yes. The record publishes median asking rent, and it is distinct from HUD FMR.

What does the employment evidence measure?

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

What hazard needs parcel-level review?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard; flood-zone, elevation, claims, and insurance evidence are not published.