Counties / Indiana / Tipton County

Tipton County, IN

FIPS 18159 · population 15,346 · part of Indianapolis, IN

$254k
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
$254k
▲ 4.7% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$842
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
$1,109
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+60.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+4.7%FHFA HPI2025+4.4%
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$175k
Surveyed gross rent$842
Rent burden 30%+26.9%
Median year built1965
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.5%vacant
6,845estimated housing units
Occupied tenure18.6% renter
owner 81.4%renter 18.6%
Structure mix87.5% single-family
Single-family 87.5%20+ units 0.9%Mobile home 3.0%Other 8.6%
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 jobs4,578▲ 2.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments351annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,065▼ 4.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorManufacturing26.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.8%WEEKLY WAGE−4.1%Manufacturing26.1%
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

Tipton County’s tension is that measured owner-price appreciation remains positive while MLS evidence points to a less forgiving listing process. It warrants investigation for buyers able to verify asset-level rent, taxes and flood costs; it warrants caution where the thesis depends on quick resale or assumed rental income. Zillow’s June 2026 county median home value was $254,357, up 4.73% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 4.43% annually and 60.64% over five years. The measures are directionally consistent, but neither is a closed-sale valuation for a specific property.

02Housing economics

Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The $1,109 per month HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot substitute for it. The effective property-tax rate is 0.65%, with median annual tax of $1,139. An underwriter can pair those taxes with the Zillow value as a broad carrying-cost screen, but needs parcel assessment, tax bill, insurance, maintenance and actual lease evidence before evaluating property cash flow.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market data show 26 active listings, 62.50% more than a year earlier, and 33.33% of listings with price reductions. That visible supply and seller-concession evidence argues for testing list-to-close discounts; it does not establish buyer demand or closed prices. QCEW annual county-workplace data show covered employment rose 2.78% while average weekly covered-worker wages fell 4.14%; Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Tax-return movers produced a net outflow of 54 households, although incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outbound movers’ by $7,686. Investors accounted for 2.22% of 180 purchases, limiting measured non-owner competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled expected annual building-value loss is 0.13%; this is a county-level model, not a property loss estimate. It changes diligence toward address-level flood zone, elevation, prior losses, insurance availability and deductibles. No market-rent series, closed-sale comparables, vacancy or operating-expense evidence, property-specific hazard data, or financing terms are published. Those absences prevent gross-yield, net-cash-flow, resale-liquidity and flood-cost conclusions.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Tipton 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
Elwood city*8.4KTipton city5.3KWindfall City town705Sharpsville town662Goldsmith CDP279Kempton town225Hobbs CDP92
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Elwood cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    8,356
  2. 02
    Tipton cityIncorporated place
    5,280
  3. 03
    Windfall City townIncorporated place
    705
  4. 04
    Sharpsville townIncorporated place
    662
  5. 05
    Goldsmith CDPCensus-designated place
    279
  6. 06
    Kempton townIncorporated place
    225
  7. 07
    Hobbs CDPCensus-designated place
    92

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

0.130% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.65%

$1,139 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-54

400 in · 454 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$7,686

$58,025 arriving · $50,339 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors2.2%

4 of 180 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 listings26▲ 62.5% year over year
Median days on market36▲ 46.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced33.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 10.3% 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; for a rent figure, the Indianapolis, IN page covers the wider market.
Same metro

The other counties in Indianapolis, 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
Tipton County15,346$254kn/an/ainland flooding
Marion County975,809$234k$1,4167.3%inland flooding
Hamilton County365,056$471k$1,8374.7%inland flooding
Hendricks County183,344$349k$1,8696.4%inland flooding
Johnson County166,315$318k$1,6416.2%inland flooding
Madison County131,900$194k$1,0876.7%inland flooding
Hancock County84,037$334k$1,6956.1%inland flooding
Boone County74,718$425k$1,9305.5%inland flooding
Morgan County72,659$304k$1,6526.5%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Achievable rent may not support the price and property-tax carrying-cost screen because market rent is not published.
  2. An individual property may have greater inland-flood exposure or insurance cost than the county-level climate model indicates.
  3. Higher visible listing supply and price reductions may correspond with weaker realized sale pricing or longer resale marketing.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is market rent available to calculate gross yield?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and the $1,109 two-bedroom HUD FMR is a payment standard rather than market rent.

What property-tax burden is published for the county?

The effective property-tax rate is 0.65%, and median annual property tax is $1,139.

How large is measured investor purchase participation?

Investor purchase mortgages represented 2.22% of 180 total purchases.