Counties / Texas / Panola County

Panola County, TX

FIPS 48365 · population 22,726 · outside every metro area

$204k
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
$204k
▲ 5.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$834
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
$995
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+55.2%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+5.3%FHFA HPI2025+2.6%
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$158k
Surveyed gross rent$834
Rent burden 30%+40.4%
Median year built1984
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
18.0%vacant
10,853estimated housing units
Occupied tenure20.1% renter
owner 79.9%renter 20.1%
Structure mix69.3% single-family
Single-family 69.3%20+ units 1.3%Mobile home 24.5%Other 5.0%
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 jobs7,705▲ 1.4% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments545annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,200▲ 5.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities20.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.4%WEEKLY WAGE+5.1%Trade, transportation, and utilities20.6%
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

Panola County’s underwriting tension is a rising value signal without published market rent and with seller concessions visible in the listing market. It warrants investigation by buyers able to verify leases, expenses, and flood exposure property by property; buyers requiring a demonstrated county gross yield should be cautious. Zillow’s June 2026 county median home value was $203,963, up 5.31%. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 2.63% annually. They support the same broad direction but use different methods and observation periods; the HPI is not a dollar home value.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $995 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The supplied effective property-tax rate is 0.79%, a carrying-cost input that must be tested against an individual assessment and purchase price. Without lease comps, vacancy, operating expenses, and insurance costs, the record cannot establish net income or whether carrying costs are supportable.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s June 2026 MLS evidence shows median marketing time of 70 days, price reductions on 18.91% of listings, and a pending-to-active ratio of 38.31%. These are asking-market measures—not closed-sale prices or standalone proof of buyer demand—and concessions and marketing time require an exit-price check. Net tax-return migration was positive, but incoming mover AGI trailed outbound AGI by $429, a calculation. QCEW measures covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment; Trade, transportation, and utilities is its largest disclosed private supersector. Investor participation was 9 of 189 purchases, or 4.76%, but this non-occupant mortgage measure does not capture unobserved cash buyers.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, consistent with the modeled annual climate-loss ratio of 0.10% of building value. That modeled ratio is not a site-specific loss or insurance quote. Obtain flood-zone, elevation, prior-loss, premium, deductible, and coverage details, plus property-level tax assessments. Also obtain achieved rents, lease terms, vacancy, expense history, and closed-sale comparables; their absence prevents yield, cash-flow, and resale underwriting, while county aggregates cannot resolve parcel-level exposure.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Panola 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
Carthage city6.6KTatum city*1.4KBeckville city690Gary City town407
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

4 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Carthage cityIncorporated place
    6,601
  2. 02
    Tatum cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,435
  3. 03
    Beckville cityIncorporated place
    690
  4. 04
    Gary City townIncorporated place
    407

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

0.103% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.79%

$1,242 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+43

551 in · 508 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$429

$55,833 arriving · $56,262 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors4.8%

9 of 189 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 listings77▲ 2.0% year over year
Median days on market70▼ 14.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.8% 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 rents, vacancy, and operating costs may not support the acquisition basis.
  2. Parcel-specific flood exposure or insurance terms may exceed county-level assumptions.
  3. Listing concessions may translate into weaker realized sale prices than asking-market indicators suggest.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a county market-rent estimate available?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent is not a market-rent estimate.

What do the Realtor.com measures represent?

They are MLS listing-market evidence: asking prices, visible active supply, marketing time, reductions, and pending listings rather than closed sales.

What does the QCEW employment evidence measure?

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