Counties / Missouri / Pulaski County

Pulaski County, MO

FIPS 29169 · population 53,894 · part of Fort Leonard Wood, MO

$232k
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
$232k
▲ 6.0% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,180
▲ 6.8% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.1%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,062
market rent is 1.11x 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+54.2%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+6.0%FHFA HPI2025+12.2%
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$190k
Surveyed gross rent$1,112
Rent burden 30%+34.3%
Median year built1994
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
13.3%vacant
19,431estimated housing units
Occupied tenure38.8% renter
owner 61.2%renter 38.8%
Structure mix73.3% single-family
Single-family 73.3%20+ units 2.6%Mobile home 9.8%Other 14.3%
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 jobs13,145▼ 1.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments930annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$940▲ 2.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality35.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.3%WEEKLY WAGE+2.8%Leisure and hospitality35.1%
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

Pulaski County’s underwriting tension is a stated $1,180 monthly median asking rent and 6.1% gross yield against a $232,203 median home value, while visible marketing, covered employment and flood exposure require property-level verification. This is a county for operators able to test rent durability and insurance before relying on the headline yield; buyers seeking evidence of stable tenant and resale demand should be cautious. The yield uses published market rent and is before costs, not a net-return measure.

02Housing economics

Zillow’s county measure is dated 2026-06. The supplied HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate, and must not replace published asking rent in yield work. The effective property-tax rate is 0.61%, a carrying cost requiring parcel confirmation. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 12.17% in 2025. That index is not a home value: its annual result has a different method and period from Zillow’s measure, so the two cannot be averaged into one appreciation rate.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence shows 166 active listings and 16.83% of listings reduced. These are asking-market supply and seller-concession signals, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s 2025 annual average shows county-workplace covered employment down 1.34%; it is not resident employment or unemployment. Leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Out-movers exceeded in-movers, and arriving households had lower average income. The record counts 51 investor purchases among 690 total purchases, or 7.39%, indicating a minority share rather than no nonowner competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.14% of building value; this is a modeled exposure ratio, not a property-specific loss estimate. Obtain flood-zone, elevation, claims and insurance quotes, plus parcel taxes and condition, because expense, financing, vacancy and repair data are not published here and prevent a net cash-flow conclusion. Closed-sale comparables, lease terms, submarket rent dispersion and tenant-credit evidence are also not published, preventing a conclusion on exit pricing or rent durability.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Pulaski 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
Fort Leonard Wood CDP15.4KWaynesville city5.4KSt. Robert city5.4KRichland city*2.1KDixon city1.3KCrocker city1K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

6 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Fort Leonard Wood CDPCensus-designated place
    15,432
  2. 02
    Waynesville cityIncorporated place
    5,442
  3. 03
    St. Robert cityIncorporated place
    5,356
  4. 04
    Richland cityIncorporated place · spans 3 counties
    2,136
  5. 05
    Dixon cityIncorporated place
    1,334
  6. 06
    Crocker cityIncorporated place
    1,024

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

0.138% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.61%

$1,159 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-60

2,390 in · 2,450 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$2,264

$52,885 arriving · $55,149 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.4%

51 of 690 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 listings166▲ 2.8% year over year
Median days on market53▲ 6.6% year over year
Listings price-reduced16.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 5.8% 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. County median asking rent may not be achievable for the subject unit, while operating-cost data are absent.
  2. Flood exposure could produce property-specific insurance, repair or eligibility constraints not captured by the modeled ratio.
  3. MLS listings, workplace employment and migration evidence do not establish closed-sale liquidity or durable tenant demand.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD FMR be substituted for market rent in gross-yield work?

No. The record identifies HUD FMR as a payment standard, while the gross yield is based on separately published market asking rent.

What does the QCEW employment change measure?

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

Can this record support a net cash-flow conclusion?

No. Expenses, financing, vacancy, repairs, property condition and property-specific insurance costs are not published.