Counties / Kansas / Osborne County

Osborne County, KS

FIPS 20141 · population 3,452 · outside every metro area

$101k
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
$101k
▲ 6.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$595
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
$877
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.3%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$86k
Surveyed gross rent$595
Rent burden 30%+18.7%
Median year built1952
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
22.3%vacant
2,031estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.8% renter
owner 77.2%renter 22.8%
Structure mix88.6% single-family
Single-family 88.6%20+ units 0.2%Mobile home 5.7%Other 5.5%
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 jobs1,254▲ 0.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments161annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$811▲ 1.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities33.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.2%WEEKLY WAGE+1.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities33.3%
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

Osborne County's tension is a $101,300 Zillow median home value with recent value growth against limited transaction-side evidence, out-migration, and flood exposure. Investigate only where property-level rent, condition, and insurance can be verified; be cautious where resale liquidity or stable household demand is essential. The Zillow county value rose 6.28% year over year. No FHFA annual HPI observation is published, so no repeat-transaction index can confirm or challenge Zillow's direction.

02Housing economics

Measured market asking rent is not published, preventing a gross-yield calculation. HUD's $877 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 1.70%; incorporate the parcel assessment and tax bill rather than treating that county rate as a property-specific cost. Rent roll, vacancy, utilities, insurance, and repair evidence are also not published, so net operating economics remain untested.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com MLS evidence shows 11 active listings, an 80-day median marketing time, 12.50% with price reductions, and an 18.18% pending-to-active ratio. These are visible asking-price, marketing-time, and seller-concession signals—not closed-sale prices or independent proof of buyer demand. The limited listing count restricts what can be inferred about liquidity. The record shows zero investor purchases among 10 total purchases, or 0%; this indicates no observed non-occupant competition in the supplied purchases, but does not capture cash buyers or future participation.

04Risk & next checks

Tax-return migration was net negative 47 households, and incoming movers' average income trailed outgoing movers' by $9,854, narrowing confidence in household-demand depth without establishing a cause. QCEW reports 1,254 annual-average covered jobs at county workplaces and an $811 average weekly covered-worker wage; it is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Modeled expected annual climate loss is 0.19% of building value, consistent with inland-flood exposure. Next checks are property flood history and insurance terms, rent comps and lease turnover, tax assessment, sale comps, and buyer financing or cash composition.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Osborne 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
Osborne city1.4KDowns city749Natoma city427Alton city121Portis city70
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

5 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Osborne cityIncorporated place
    1,358
  2. 02
    Downs cityIncorporated place
    749
  3. 03
    Natoma cityIncorporated place
    427
  4. 04
    Alton cityIncorporated place
    121
  5. 05
    Portis cityIncorporated place
    70

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

0.186% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.70%

$1,465 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-47

46 in · 93 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$9,854

$47,522 arriving · $57,376 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors0.0%

0 of 10 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 listings11▼ 15.4% year over year
Median days on market80▲ 15.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced12.5%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 24.6% 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-level figures may not match the subject property's rent, tax assessment, condition, or flood exposure.
  2. MLS listings and the small purchase record may not represent closed-sale liquidity or cash-buyer competition.
  3. Migration and QCEW covered-workplace data do not establish future household demand or employment conditions.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent cannot be substituted for market rent.

What does the record show about investor participation?

It shows zero investor purchases among 10 total purchases, a 0% recorded investor share.

What is the dominant hazard and modeled annual loss ratio?

The dominant hazard is inland flood, and modeled expected annual climate loss is 0.19% of building value.