Counties / North Carolina / Vance County

Vance County, NC

FIPS 37181 · population 42,322 · part of Henderson, NC

$189k
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
$189k
▼ 1.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$942
▼ 0.5% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.0%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$975
market rent is 0.97x 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.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+69.2%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.8%FHFA HPI2025+4.3%
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$162k
Surveyed gross rent$883
Rent burden 30%+56.9%
Median year built1982
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
17.2%vacant
19,489estimated housing units
Occupied tenure39.9% renter
owner 60.1%renter 39.9%
Structure mix64.7% single-family
Single-family 64.7%20+ units 1.6%Mobile home 25.4%Other 8.3%
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 jobs14,168▲ 0.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments976annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$928▲ 2.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities35.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.3%WEEKLY WAGE+2.1%Trade, transportation, and utilities35.4%
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

Vance County presents a carry-versus-price tension: Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation puts median home value at $188,907, down 1.76% year over year, alongside $942 median asking rent and a 5.98% gross yield before costs. This merits property-level cash-flow investigation; buyers relying on appreciation should be cautious. FHFA’s separately dated 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.31%. It is an index, not a home value, and its change cannot be averaged with Zillow’s different method and vintage.

02Housing economics

Market asking rent equals 96.6% of the HUD $975 FMR. That FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; the stated gross yield uses published market rent before costs. The effective property-tax rate is 0.78%, with median annual tax of $1,256. Taxes therefore require property-level confirmation alongside insurance, maintenance, vacancy, utilities and management, none of which is published; their absence prevents a net-yield conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence shows 105 active listings, with expanding visible supply, longer marketing time and price reductions. These are asking-market and seller-concession signals, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. Investor purchases were 14 of 266 total purchases, a 5.26% share, so non-owner competition appears limited in this measure rather than absent. Migration was effectively balanced, while average income of movers in exceeded that of movers out. QCEW shows annual covered employment at county workplaces and covered-worker wages edging up; it is not resident employment, and Trade, transportation, and utilities is only the largest disclosed private supersector.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual building-value loss ratio is 0.09%; this county-level metric should be reconciled with parcel flood exposure and insurance terms rather than treated as a property loss estimate. Closed-sale comparables, unit-level rent comps, vacancy, operating expenses, insurance quotes, debt terms and parcel hazard data are not published. Without them, an underwriter cannot establish achievable rent, net cash flow, resale value or property-specific climate cost.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Vance 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
Henderson city14.9KSouth Henderson CDP981Middleburg town141Kittrell town57
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
    Henderson cityIncorporated place
    14,885
  2. 02
    South Henderson CDPCensus-designated place
    981
  3. 03
    Middleburg townIncorporated place
    141
  4. 04
    Kittrell townIncorporated place
    57

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

0.095% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.78%

$1,256 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-1

992 in · 993 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$955

$44,314 arriving · $43,359 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.3%

14 of 266 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 listings105▲ 37.5% year over year
Median days on market69▲ 18.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced27.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 9.1% year over year

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

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel flood exposure or insurance costs could differ materially from the county modeled-loss measure.
  2. Unpublished vacancy and operating costs could materially reduce the pre-cost gross yield.
  3. Listing-market softness may not translate into purchasable closed-sale pricing or stable achievable rents.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure supports the stated gross yield?

Median asking market rent supports it; HUD FMR is separately supplied as a payment standard and is not used as market rent.

Does the record establish net cash flow after operating costs?

No. Vacancy, insurance, maintenance, utilities, management and financing terms are not published.

What does the FHFA signal measure in this record?

It measures change in a repeat-transaction house-price index, not a county home value or an asking-price measure.