Counties / Indiana / Tippecanoe County

Tippecanoe County, IN

FIPS 18157 · population 189,071 · part of Lafayette, IN

$304k
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
$304k
▲ 1.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,419
▲ 2.1% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.6%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,242
market rent is 1.14x 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+58.4%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.9%FHFA HPI2025+2.6%
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$239k
Surveyed gross rent$1,124
Rent burden 30%+59.3%
Median year built1987
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
6.0%vacant
80,647estimated housing units
Occupied tenure46.6% renter
owner 53.4%renter 46.6%
Structure mix61.5% single-family
Single-family 61.5%20+ units 10.3%Mobile home 2.5%Other 25.7%
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 jobs91,913▼ 0.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments4,368annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,194▲ 1.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing24.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.9%WEEKLY WAGE+1.5%Manufacturing24.9%
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

Tippecanoe County presents an income-screening case with softer demand and resale diligence requirements. Investors able to verify unit-level rent, flood exposure, and operating costs should investigate; buyers relying on rapid resale or broad employment expansion should be cautious. Zillow’s county home-value measure rose 1.92%, while FHFA’s separately labeled annual repeat-transaction HPI increased 2.64%. Those measures support a positive price direction, but FHFA is not a home value and its change should not be combined with Zillow’s differently timed, differently constructed measure.

02Housing economics

The published median home value is $304,284 and median asking market rent is $1,419 per month, producing a published gross yield of 5.6% before operating costs. This is a usable county-level income screen, not a property-level return. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is below the measured market rent, but FMR is a payment standard rather than an asking-rent estimate and cannot substitute for lease evidence. The effective property-tax rate is 0.62%; assessment treatment, insurance, maintenance, and vacancy remain necessary before judging net income.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence shows 320 active listings, increased visible supply, a median 40 days on market, and 20.38% of listings with price reductions. These are asking-price, marketing-time, and seller-concession indicators rather than closed-sale evidence or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration shows a net outflow of 1,188 households, while average AGI for movers leaving exceeded that of movers arriving by $3,083. Investor participation was a calculation of 204 investor purchases divided by 1,938 total purchases, or 10.53%, indicating buyer competition without establishing tenant demand.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual building-value loss ratio is 0.07%; it is a county model, not a site-specific insurance quote or flood determination. QCEW annual covered employment at county workplaces fell 0.95%, with Manufacturing the largest disclosed private supersector; this is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Missing unit-level achieved rents, vacancy, operating expenses, flood maps, insurance quotes, debt terms, and recent comparable sales prevent a defensible property-level NOI, debt-service coverage, and exit-value conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Tippecanoe 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
Lafayette city71.2KWest Lafayette city45.2KBattle Ground town2KShadeland town1.9KOtterbein town*1.6KDayton town1.2KClarks Hill town700Romney CDP391
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

14 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Lafayette cityIncorporated place
    71,159
  2. 02
    West Lafayette cityIncorporated place
    45,159
  3. 03
    Battle Ground townIncorporated place
    1,969
  4. 04
    Shadeland townIncorporated place
    1,921
  5. 05
    Otterbein townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    1,576
  6. 06
    Dayton townIncorporated place
    1,168
  7. 07
    Clarks Hill townIncorporated place
    700
  8. 08
    Romney CDPCensus-designated place
    391
  9. 09
    Stockwell CDPCensus-designated place
    286
  10. 10
    West Point CDPCensus-designated place
    189
  11. 11
    Colburn CDPCensus-designated place
    92
  12. 12
    Buck Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    77
Show 2 more places
  1. 13
    Montmorenci CDPCensus-designated place
    76
  2. 14
    Americus CDPCensus-designated place
    67

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

0.073% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.62%

$1,474 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-1,188

4,827 in · 6,015 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$3,083

$55,316 arriving · $58,399 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.5%

204 of 1,938 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 listings320▲ 21.4% year over year
Median days on market40▲ 15.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.4%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.3% 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 Lafayette, IN

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
Tippecanoe County189,071$304k$1,4195.6%inland flooding
Carroll County20,535$244kn/an/ainland flooding
Benton County8,735$208kn/an/ainland flooding
Warren County8,464$238kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Countywide asking rent may not be achievable for the target unit or submarket.
  2. Flood insurance, mitigation requirements, or property-specific tax treatment may overwhelm the preliminary yield screen.
  3. County employment and migration measures may not describe demand for the target property type or location.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the published rent a HUD payment standard?

No. It is median asking market rent; HUD FMR is separately reported as a payment standard.

What do the Realtor.com figures measure?

They are MLS listing-market evidence: asking-price conditions, visible active supply, marketing time, and price reductions rather than closed sales.

What type of employment does QCEW measure?

Annual average covered jobs located at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.