Counties / Pennsylvania / Northumberland County

Northumberland County, PA

FIPS 42097 · population 90,560 · part of Sunbury, PA

$177k
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
$177k
▲ 3.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,037
▲ 8.1% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
7.0%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$973
market rent is 1.07x 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+46.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+3.3%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$162k
Surveyed gross rent$806
Rent burden 30%+42.6%
Median year built1954
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
12.7%vacant
43,395estimated housing units
Occupied tenure24.5% renter
owner 75.5%renter 24.5%
Structure mix82.5% single-family
Single-family 82.5%20+ units 4.1%Mobile home 4.0%Other 9.4%
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 jobs26,992▲ 0.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,837annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,043▲ 2.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities28.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.0%WEEKLY WAGE+2.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities28.3%
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

Northumberland County presents a cash-flow-versus-liquidity tension: measured rent supports a pre-expense screen, while visible listing-market conditions and flood exposure require parcel-level work. In Zillow’s June 2026 county reading, median home value was $176,960, median asking rent was $1,037, and stated gross yield was 7.03% before costs. Cash-flow buyers should test durable unit rent and flood costs; buyers relying on quick resale or thin expense margins should be cautious.

02Housing economics

Zillow’s home-value measure rose 3.32% in its reading. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 5.34% and was up 45.98% cumulatively over five years. Those are differently dated and constructed measures: the HPI confirms a positive direction but is not a home value and cannot be averaged with Zillow’s change. The effective property-tax rate is 1.11%, a carrying-cost input below the stated gross yield. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot replace measured market rent in that calculation.

03Demand & competition

QCEW annual covered employment at county workplaces edged up 0.05%; this is workplace coverage, not resident employment or unemployment. Realtor.com’s June 2026 MLS data show active listings up 29% and median days on market at 62. These are visible asking-market supply and marketing-time signals, not closed sales or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return movers produced a net outflow of 85, yet inbound movers’ average AGI was $4,395 higher than outbound movers’; that mixed composition does not establish housing demand. Non-occupants took 86 of 648 purchase mortgages, showing participation in financed purchases but not the identity or strategy of all purchasers.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss equals 0.16%; neither substitutes for a parcel flood determination or insurance quote. Vacancy, operating expenses, financing terms, property condition, unit-level rent comps, and flood-zone or insurance data are not published. Their absence prevents an NOI, cap-rate, debt-coverage, and property-specific resilience conclusion; next checks are rent rolls, sale comparables, taxes, insurance, and flood maps.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Northumberland 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
Sunbury city9.6KShamokin city6.9KMilton borough6.5KMount Carmel borough5.7KNorthumberland borough3.9KKulpmont borough2.7KElysburg CDP2.5KEdgewood CDP2.1K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

27 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Sunbury cityIncorporated place
    9,617
  2. 02
    Shamokin cityIncorporated place
    6,853
  3. 03
    Milton boroughIncorporated place
    6,534
  4. 04
    Mount Carmel boroughIncorporated place
    5,677
  5. 05
    Northumberland boroughIncorporated place
    3,866
  6. 06
    Kulpmont boroughIncorporated place
    2,724
  7. 07
    Elysburg CDPCensus-designated place
    2,492
  8. 08
    Edgewood CDPCensus-designated place
    2,078
  9. 09
    Watsontown boroughIncorporated place
    2,005
  10. 10
    Riverside boroughIncorporated place
    1,806
  11. 11
    Trevorton CDPCensus-designated place
    1,775
  12. 12
    Fairview-Ferndale CDPCensus-designated place
    1,742
Show 15 more places
  1. 13
    Dewart CDPCensus-designated place
    1,247
  2. 14
    Marshallton CDP (Northumberland County)Census place
    1,187
  3. 15
    Montandon CDPCensus-designated place
    831
  4. 16
    Turbotville boroughIncorporated place
    808
  5. 17
    Atlas CDPCensus-designated place
    719
  6. 18
    Kapp Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    712
  7. 19
    Ranshaw CDPCensus-designated place
    708
  8. 20
    Marion Heights boroughIncorporated place
    578
  9. 21
    Herndon boroughIncorporated place
    366
  10. 22
    Tharptown (Uniontown) CDPCensus-designated place
    358
  11. 23
    Dalmatia CDPCensus-designated place
    341
  12. 24
    McEwensville boroughIncorporated place
    314
  13. 25
    Snydertown boroughIncorporated place
    311
  14. 26
    Locust Gap CDPCensus-designated place
    188
  15. 27
    Strong CDPCensus-designated place
    14

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

0.159% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.10%

$1,794 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-85

1,775 in · 1,860 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$4,395

$51,817 arriving · $47,422 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors13.3%

86 of 648 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 listings174▲ 29.0% year over year
Median days on market62▲ 21.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced19.7%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 24.2% 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 Sunbury, PA

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
Northumberland County90,560$177k$1,0377.0%inland flooding
Montour County18,103$285k$1,4606.1%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unit-level rent, vacancy, and operating expenses may differ from the county median asking-rent measure.
  2. Parcel-specific inland-flood exposure and insurance cost may differ materially from the county modeled loss ratio.
  3. Expanded MLS supply and longer marketing time could weaken resale liquidity relative to the price measures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a market-rent measure published?

Yes. The record publishes median asking rent, which is distinct from HUD Fair Market Rent.

What does the supplied QCEW employment measure represent?

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

Does the record establish property-level flood and insurance underwriting?

No. Parcel flood-zone status, insurance quotes, and property-specific condition data are not published.