Counties / Texas / Taylor County

Taylor County, TX

FIPS 48441 · population 145,863 · part of Abilene, TX

$227k
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
$227k
▲ 7.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,945
▲ 41.7% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
10.3%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,276
market rent is 1.52x 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+42.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+7.6%FHFA HPI2025+3.2%
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$199k
Surveyed gross rent$1,159
Rent burden 30%+51.6%
Median year built1978
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
11.7%vacant
62,198estimated housing units
Occupied tenure39.5% renter
owner 60.5%renter 39.5%
Structure mix73.5% single-family
Single-family 73.5%20+ units 4.8%Mobile home 4.8%Other 16.9%
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 jobs68,854▲ 0.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments3,848annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,121▲ 4.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services25.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.9%WEEKLY WAGE+4.3%Education and health services25.8%
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

Taylor County presents a high-income-screening case with carrying-cost and evidence-quality constraints. At Zillow’s 2026-06 observation, median home value was $226,614 and published median asking rent was $1,945 per month, producing the supplied 10.30% gross yield before costs. This merits investigation by operators able to verify property expenses and rent comparables; buyers treating HUD FMR as market rent should be cautious. HUD’s FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent.

02Housing economics

Housing economics show rapid but non-comparable growth measures. Zillow’s county value rose 7.61% year over year, while its asking rent rose 41.74%; these are county measures, not a lease-level rent roll. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI increased 3.21% in its 2025 annual observation. It is an index, not a dollar home value, and must not be averaged with Zillow’s differently dated measure. The 1.37% effective property-tax rate raises carrying costs, leaving gross yield short of a net-return finding.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS record shows active listings down 57.33% year over year and a 44-day median marketing time. These describe visible asking-market supply and marketing time, not closed-sale pricing or buyer demand alone. QCEW identifies Education and health services as the largest disclosed private supersector in annual covered county-workplace employment; it is neither resident employment nor unemployment. Tax-return migration was net positive by 89 households, while inbound movers’ average AGI exceeded outbound movers’ by $492. Investor mortgages were 14.70% of 1,987 total purchases: competing-buyer presence, not evidence of all-cash activity.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the supplied modeled climate-loss ratio represents expected annual building-value loss rather than a property-specific damage estimate. Underwriting should obtain flood-zone status, elevation, insurance availability and quotes, deductible terms, and tenant-disruption exposure. Property condition, utilities, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management costs, actual lease comparables, and closed-sale comparables are not published. Their absence prevents conversion of gross yield to net cash flow, confirmation of attainable rent, and a supported acquisition-price or resale-underwriting conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Taylor 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
Abilene city*128.1KPotosi CDP4.3KMerkel town2.7KTuscola city990Tye city936Buffalo Gap town534Lawn town280Trent town280
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

9 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Abilene cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    128,053
  2. 02
    Potosi CDPCensus-designated place
    4,322
  3. 03
    Merkel townIncorporated place
    2,699
  4. 04
    Tuscola cityIncorporated place
    990
  5. 05
    Tye cityIncorporated place
    936
  6. 06
    Buffalo Gap townIncorporated place
    534
  7. 07
    Lawn townIncorporated place
    280
  8. 08
    Trent townIncorporated place
    280
  9. 09
    Impact townIncorporated place
    13

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

0.159% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.37%

$2,728 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+89

4,244 in · 4,155 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$492

$55,804 arriving · $55,312 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors14.7%

292 of 1,987 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 listings233▼ 57.3% year over year
Median days on market44▼ 19.6% year over year
Listings price-reduced8.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 25.7% 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 Abilene, TX

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
Taylor County145,863$227k$1,94510.3%inland flooding
Jones County20,304$154kn/an/ainland flooding
Callahan County14,241$221kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Gross yield is before taxes, insurance, flood coverage, repairs, vacancy, and management, leaving net cash flow unresolved.
  2. MLS listing measures are asking-market evidence rather than closed-sale pricing or standalone proof of buyer demand.
  3. County aggregates can conceal property-specific flood exposure, renter depth, condition, and employer concentration.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a market-rent-based gross yield available for initial screening?

Yes. The record publishes median asking rent and supplies a gross yield, but that yield is before operating costs.

Can HUD FMR be used as the county’s asking-rent estimate?

No. The record defines HUD FMR as a payment standard, not market asking rent.

What is the dominant hazard requiring property-level diligence?

Inland flood.