Counties / Massachusetts / Suffolk County

Suffolk County, MA

FIPS 25025 · population 785,121 · part of Boston, MA

$763k
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
$763k
▲ 0.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$3,423
▲ 2.8% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.4%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$2,941
market rent is 1.16x 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+34.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.2%FHFA HPI2025+3.4%
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$706k
Surveyed gross rent$2,129
Rent burden 30%+52.0%
Median year built1949
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.4%vacant
357,290estimated housing units
Occupied tenure63.5% renter
owner 36.5%renter 63.5%
Structure mix19.5% single-family
Single-family 19.5%20+ units 27.3%Mobile home 0.2%Other 53.1%
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 jobs711,969▼ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments34,150annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$2,655▲ 5.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services30.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+5.1%Education and health services30.8%
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

Suffolk County’s decision tension is a $763,473 median home value against $3,423 monthly median asking rent and a supplied 5.38% gross yield before costs. Investors able to verify property-level expenses should investigate; buyers requiring a durable post-cost margin should be cautious. The question is whether carrying costs and listing conditions leave net income after a Zillow value series that was nearly flat.

02Housing economics

Measured rent exceeds HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent, but FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate; it cannot substitute for market rent or support a separate yield. Zillow’s county value rose 0.17% year over year, versus 2.84% for asking rent. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.4% annually and 34.77% cumulatively over its five-year interval; it is an index, not a dollar value. Its method and vintage must not be blended with Zillow. The 0.66% effective property-tax rate and $4,649 median annual tax leave gross yield incomplete; insurance, maintenance and financing are not published.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence has median listing price down 6.03% year over year, higher visible supply, unchanged marketing time, 16.86% of listings reduced, and a 54.8% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-price, supply, marketing-time and concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW’s annual covered workplace employment slipped while its average weekly wage rose; Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. More tax-return households moved out than in, and leavers had higher average income. Investors made 15.87% of 5,161 purchases, signaling participation but not bid levels or investor cash flow.

04Risk & next checks

With inland flood the dominant hazard, modeled expected annual climate loss is 0.08% of building value. That county-level model is not a parcel loss estimate. Flood zone, elevation, claims history, insurance quotes, operating expenses, lease terms, vacancy, assessed value and closed-sale comparables are not published. Those gaps prevent a net-yield conclusion, a target-asset tax estimate, and validation of valuation or achievable property-level rent.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Suffolk 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
Boston city666.4KRevere city60KChelsea city39.9KWinthrop Town city18.8K
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
    Boston cityIncorporated place
    666,442
  2. 02
    Revere cityIncorporated place
    60,012
  3. 03
    Chelsea cityIncorporated place
    39,908
  4. 04
    Winthrop Town cityIncorporated place
    18,759

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

0.075% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.66%

$4,649 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-3,762

36,173 in · 39,935 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$33,993

$93,364 arriving · $127,357 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors15.9%

819 of 5,161 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 listings2,035▲ 11.0% year over year
Median days on market45▲ 0.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced16.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 6.0% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Same metro

The other counties in Boston, MA

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Suffolk County785,121$763k$3,4235.4%inland flooding
Middlesex County1,638,365$833k$3,2604.7%inland flooding
Essex County813,054$737k$2,6324.3%inland flooding
Norfolk County730,082$786k$2,9704.5%inland flooding
Plymouth County535,075$662k$2,7545.0%inland flooding
Rockingham County319,082$637k$2,5634.8%inland flooding
Strafford County132,575$519k$2,1645.0%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel-level flood exposure and insurance costs may differ materially from the county climate model.
  2. Unpublished operating, financing, maintenance and vacancy costs could materially change the gross-yield result.
  3. Tax-return migration may not represent the tenant or buyer pool for a specific property.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the reported 5.38% yield net of property taxes and operating expenses?

No. It is gross annual market rent before costs.

Can Zillow and FHFA appreciation figures be combined into one growth rate?

No. Zillow reports a county median home value, while FHFA reports a repeat-transaction appreciation index with a distinct method and vintage.

How large is recorded investor participation in purchases?

Investors made 819 of 5,161 purchases, or 15.87%.