Counties / Kansas / Scott County

Scott County, KS

FIPS 20171 · population 5,027 · outside every metro area

$191k
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
$191k
▲ 0.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$685
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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+38.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.4%FHFA HPI2025+5.6%
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$160k
Surveyed gross rent$685
Rent burden 30%+20.5%
Median year built1959
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
1.9%vacant
2,334estimated housing units
Occupied tenure32.8% renter
owner 67.2%renter 32.8%
Structure mix88.2% single-family
Single-family 88.2%20+ units 3.1%Mobile home 1.2%Other 7.5%
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 jobs2,140▼ 0.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments252annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,057▲ 5.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorNatural resources and mining31.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.1%WEEKLY WAGE+5.3%Natural resources and mining31.3%
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

Scott County’s decision tension is a nearly flat current Zillow value reading against materially stronger FHFA index history, with no published market rent to translate either into income. It warrants investigation by buyers who can validate unit-level rents, taxes and flood exposure; those requiring a demonstrated yield or current listing-market evidence should be cautious. Zillow’s county median home value was $191,105 in 2026-06, up 0.41% year over year. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI, not a home value, rose 5.60% in its 2025 annual observation and 38.73% cumulatively over five years. These methods and labeled periods cannot be combined into one appreciation rate.

02Housing economics

No median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be calculated. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $877 per month is a payment standard, not asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 1.65%, with median annual tax of $2,640; both need to be carried against verified rent and purchase terms rather than treated as a yield result. The record also lacks operating costs, insurance and unit condition, preventing a net-cash-flow assessment.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed and thin. Migration records show a net loss of 46 tax-return households, while average AGI of inbound movers was $10,813 below that of outbound movers; this is household-mover evidence, not a tenant-demand measure. QCEW reports 2,140 annual average covered jobs at county workplaces; Natural resources and mining, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounts for 478 jobs, or 31.32% of total private covered employment. The 3.23% investor share of purchase mortgages signals limited measured non-owner competition, but it neither counts cash buyers nor proves transaction depth.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.11% of building value per year; it is a modeled expected-loss ratio, not a property-specific repair bill. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, marketing-time or price-reduction figures are published, so visible supply and seller concessions cannot be assessed. Next checks are property-level flood zone, insurance and mitigation history; current asking rents and lease terms; and closed-sale comparables. Those omissions prevent a defensible yield, liquidity, and hazard-adjusted carrying-cost conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Scott 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
Scott City city3.8KShallow Water CDP0
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Scott City cityIncorporated place
    3,800
  2. 02
    Shallow Water CDPCensus-designated place
    0

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 tax1.65%

$2,640 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-46

65 in · 111 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$10,813

$38,169 arriving · $48,982 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.2%

1 of 31 mortgages

investorother financed
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. Verified rents may not support property taxes, insurance, operating costs and required returns.
  2. County-level migration, employment and investor data may not represent the target property's tenant base or buyer pool.
  3. Property-specific flood exposure, insurance availability and mitigation needs may differ from the county-level modeled loss ratio.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent is a payment standard rather than market asking rent.

Does the record show substantial investor competition for purchase mortgages?

No. The reported non-owner purchase-mortgage share is 3.23%, although the measure does not include cash buyers.

What hazard requires property-level diligence?

Inland flood is the stated dominant hazard; the record provides a county-level modeled climate-loss ratio rather than parcel-specific exposure or insurance information.