Counties / Washington / Walla Walla County

Walla Walla County, WA

FIPS 53071 · population 62,161 · part of Walla Walla, WA

$424k
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
$424k
▲ 0.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,492
▲ 3.4% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.2%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,550
market rent is 0.96x 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+50.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.8%FHFA HPI2025+5.0%
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$409k
Surveyed gross rent$1,218
Rent burden 30%+54.1%
Median year built1973
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
7.8%vacant
25,422estimated housing units
Occupied tenure35.0% renter
owner 65.0%renter 35.0%
Structure mix70.4% single-family
Single-family 70.4%20+ units 7.1%Mobile home 7.4%Other 15.2%
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 jobs28,329▼ 2.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,824annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,137▲ 6.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services24.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−2.6%WEEKLY WAGE+6.0%Education and health services24.7%
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

The county-level tension is a reported income yield against a high entry value and looser listing-market evidence. At Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $423,851 and had risen 0.78% year over year; median asking rent was $1,492 per month and the supplied gross yield was 4.22% before costs. Resale-liquidity-dependent cases warrant caution, while income underwriting needs property-specific confirmation of durable rent and expenses.

02Housing economics

That yield is based on measured market rent, not HUD Fair Market Rent. HUD FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent, and cannot be used to substitute rent or recalibrate yield. The effective property-tax rate is 0.85%, a carrying-cost input against the price and rent. Separately, FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 4.98% year over year and 50.59% over its supplied multi-year measure. It confirms upward index direction, but is not a dollar home value and cannot be averaged with Zillow because the methods and vintages differ.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence points to looser visible supply: active listings were 33.67% higher year over year, median marketing time was 57 days, and 22.28% of listings had price reductions. These are asking-market supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession measures—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration recorded a small net outflow despite higher average AGI for inbound movers, and investors represented a minority of purchases. Together, those county aggregates do not establish neighborhood tenant demand or who will set the marginal purchase price.

04Risk & next checks

QCEW’s 2025 annual covered employment at workplaces declined even as covered-worker weekly wages rose; it is neither resident employment nor a local labor forecast. Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Modeled climate loss equals 0.13% of building value per year and aligns with inland-flood exposure, but it is not observed damage. Missing lease renewal, vacancy, operating-cost, insurance-quote, financing, property-level flood, and closed-sale evidence prevents a net-cash-flow, site-risk, or exit-value conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Walla Walla 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
Walla Walla city33.9KCollege Place city9.9KBurbank CDP3.6KWalla Walla East CDP2.1KGarrett CDP1.7KWaitsburg city1.1KTouchet CDP558Prescott city389
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

10 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Walla Walla cityIncorporated place
    33,925
  2. 02
    College Place cityIncorporated place
    9,854
  3. 03
    Burbank CDPCensus-designated place
    3,589
  4. 04
    Walla Walla East CDPCensus-designated place
    2,099
  5. 05
    Garrett CDPCensus-designated place
    1,697
  6. 06
    Waitsburg cityIncorporated place
    1,083
  7. 07
    Touchet CDPCensus-designated place
    558
  8. 08
    Prescott cityIncorporated place
    389
  9. 09
    Wallula CDPCensus-designated place
    145
  10. 10
    Dixie CDPCensus-designated place
    133

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

0.128% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.85%

$3,492 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-8

1,491 in · 1,499 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$28,219

$89,836 arriving · $61,617 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors5.5%

31 of 560 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 listings266▲ 33.7% year over year
Median days on market57▲ 18.6% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 0.9% 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. Property-level rent, vacancy, and operating costs may not support the reported county gross-yield figure.
  2. County MLS and migration indicators may not translate to the subject neighborhood’s tenant demand or resale liquidity.
  3. Flood insurance, mitigation requirements, or realized damage may exceed what the modeled climate metric captures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Does the published gross yield use HUD Fair Market Rent?

No. The supplied yield uses measured median asking rent; HUD FMR is a payment standard and is not a market-rent estimate.

Do the Realtor.com figures prove buyer demand or closed-sale pricing?

No. They are MLS listing-market evidence covering visible supply, marketing time, and price reductions, not final sale outcomes.

What labor-market evidence is available for underwriting?

QCEW shows annual covered jobs located at county workplaces declined while covered-worker wages rose; education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector.