Counties / Michigan / Roscommon County

Roscommon County, MI

FIPS 26143 · population 23,737 · outside every metro area

$195k
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
$195k
▲ 2.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$816
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
$973
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+82.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.4%FHFA HPI2025+9.7%
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$159k
Surveyed gross rent$816
Rent burden 30%+48.3%
Median year built1976
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
50.1%vacant
23,213estimated housing units
Occupied tenure14.6% renter
owner 85.4%renter 14.6%
Structure mix88.0% single-family
Single-family 88.0%20+ units 0.6%Mobile home 8.9%Other 2.5%
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 jobs6,107▼ 5.0% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments600annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$813▲ 6.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality36.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−5.0%WEEKLY WAGE+6.3%Leisure and hospitality36.9%
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

Roscommon County presents a price-appreciation versus income-and-risk tension: buyers requiring rent-backed cash flow or stable local employment should be cautious, while asset-selective buyers should investigate rather than assume momentum resolves it. Zillow's county median home value was $195,107 in 2026-06, up 2.44% year over year. FHFA's annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 9.68%. This index is not a dollar home value, and its method and vintage must not be combined with Zillow's growth rate.

02Housing economics

No county market asking-rent figure is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD's supplied FMR of $973 is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent and cannot be substituted for it. The effective property-tax rate is 1.01%, and the county median annual tax is $1,604. These are carrying-cost benchmarks, not a tax bill for a particular parcel; without market rent, their burden relative to revenue cannot be judged.

03Demand & competition

Demand and buyer competition are mixed. Net migration was 117 tax-return households, while inbound movers' average AGI exceeded outbound movers' by $9,727; that is a higher inbound-mover income measure, not evidence of tenure, location or tenant demand. Investor mortgage purchases were 23 of 407, or 5.65%, so documented non-occupant participation was limited rather than dominant. Realtor.com's active-listing inventory declined year over year, and 25.82% of listings had price reductions. Those are MLS visible-supply and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW annual covered workplace employment declined 5.01%; it is not resident employment or unemployment, and Leisure and hospitality is the largest disclosed private supersector.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard. The modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.14% of building value per year, aligning the hazard with an expected-loss input but not establishing a parcel's exposure or insurance cost. Property-level flood zone, elevation, insurance quotes, condition, market-rent comparables, vacancy, operating expenses and closed-sale evidence are not published. Their absence prevents parcel cash-flow, gross-yield, insurance and exit-price underwriting; verify them before treating county measures as property conclusions.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Roscommon 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
Houghton Lake CDP5.8KSt. Helen CDP2.9KPrudenville CDP1.4KRoscommon village1.1K
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
    Houghton Lake CDPCensus-designated place
    5,769
  2. 02
    St. Helen CDPCensus-designated place
    2,929
  3. 03
    Prudenville CDPCensus-designated place
    1,350
  4. 04
    Roscommon villageIncorporated place
    1,118

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

0.137% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.01%

$1,604 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+117

872 in · 755 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,727

$65,209 arriving · $55,482 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.7%

23 of 407 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 listings229▼ 10.9% year over year
Median days on market44▼ 9.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced25.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.6% 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. Unpublished market rents and operating costs may overturn any property cash-flow conclusion.
  2. County migration and workplace employment may mask conditions in the target submarket or tenant segment.
  3. County modeled flood loss may differ from parcel exposure, insurability and repair needs.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can this record produce a gross yield?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as market rent.

Does investor buying appear to dominate purchases?

No. Investor mortgage purchases were a minority of the recorded purchases.

What hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood; the supplied climate-loss measure is county-level and does not establish parcel exposure.