Counties / Colorado / Saguache County

Saguache County, CO

FIPS 08109 · population 6,580 · outside every metro area

$255k
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
$255k
▼ 3.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$828
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
$975
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 ZHVI2026-06−3.9%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$213k
Surveyed gross rent$828
Rent burden 30%+48.0%
Median year built1987
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
12.9%vacant
3,902estimated housing units
Occupied tenure23.1% renter
owner 76.9%renter 23.1%
Structure mix75.3% single-family
Single-family 75.3%20+ units 0.9%Mobile home 16.2%Other 7.7%
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 jobs1,669▼ 5.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments231annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$852▲ 3.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorNatural resources and mining28.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−5.6%WEEKLY WAGE+3.1%Natural resources and mining28.2%
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

Saguache County’s tension is a lower entry value alongside unresolved income economics and inland-flood exposure. It merits investigation by buyers able to verify asset-level rents and flood costs; leveraged income underwriting should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 county median home value was $254,673, down 3.91% from its prior-year observation. This is a home-value measure, not a closed-sale price. No FHFA annual repeat-transaction HPI observation is published to provide a separately constructed trend check.

02Housing economics

Housing economics cannot yet support a gross-yield calculation because market asking rent is not published. HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $975 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than market rent and cannot be used to derive yield. The reported effective property-tax rate is 0.33%. Modeled annual climate loss equals 0.11% of building value, consistent with inland flood as the dominant hazard; this is modeled loss, not an insurance quote or a property-specific repair estimate.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence, also labeled 2026-06, shows sellers adjusting: median listing price fell 6.36%, active listings increased 20%, and 18.22% of listings had price reductions. The 12.90% pending-to-active ratio and median days on market describe listing conversion and marketing time, not closed buyer demand. In 2025 QCEW annual covered workplace employment fell 5.60%; Natural resources and mining represented 28.21% of private covered employment. Tax-return migration was net positive, but arriving movers’ average AGI was $2,071 below that of departing movers. Investor share was 3.92%, measuring non-owner mortgage purchases rather than all investor capital.

04Risk & next checks

The record does not publish market rent, vacancy, closed-sale comparables, property insurance costs, or site-specific flood information. Those gaps prevent conclusions on gross yield, rent coverage, executable sale pricing, lease-up conditions, and flood carrying costs. County-level workplace and migration evidence also cannot establish demand or hazard exposure for a particular property. The next underwriting file needs comparable leases, operating expenses, insurance quotes, flood-zone review, and recent closed sales.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Saguache 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
Center town*2.1KSaguache town579Crestone town123Moffat town54Bonanza town20
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
    Center townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    2,120
  2. 02
    Saguache townIncorporated place
    579
  3. 03
    Crestone townIncorporated place
    123
  4. 04
    Moffat townIncorporated place
    54
  5. 05
    Bonanza townIncorporated place
    20

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

0.113% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.33%

$690 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+20

211 in · 191 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$2,071

$49,678 arriving · $51,749 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.9%

2 of 51 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 listings93▲ 20.0% year over year
Median days on market73▼ 17.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced18.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 6.4% 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 market rents and vacancy could leave the apparent entry value unsupported by property income.
  2. Site-specific inland-flood insurance, mitigation, or repair costs could exceed what the modeled loss ratio conveys.
  3. County covered-workplace employment may not reflect the resident tenant base or demand for a specific property type.
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 substitute for market rent.

What does the migration evidence show?

Tax-return migration is net positive, but incoming moving households have lower average AGI than outgoing households.

What does the investor measure cover?

It measures the share of purchase mortgages to non-occupants, not all investor or cash purchases.