Counties / Iowa / Warren County

Warren County, IA

FIPS 19181 · population 54,409 · part of Des Moines, IA

$327k
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
$327k
▲ 2.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,189
▲ 5.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.4%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,318
market rent is 0.90x 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+40.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.6%FHFA HPI2025+1.2%
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$270k
Surveyed gross rent$973
Rent burden 30%+41.8%
Median year built1985
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
5.7%vacant
21,921estimated housing units
Occupied tenure17.7% renter
owner 82.3%renter 17.7%
Structure mix82.3% single-family
Single-family 82.3%20+ units 4.9%Mobile home 3.3%Other 9.5%
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 jobs13,614▲ 3.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,416annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,022▲ 3.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities28.6% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.7%WEEKLY WAGE+3.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities28.6%
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

Warren County’s tension is a modest pre-cost income return against carrying costs and inland-flood screening. At Zillow’s county observation, median home value was $327,178, median asking rent $1,189 monthly, and supplied gross yield 4.36% before costs. The 1.43% effective property-tax rate further narrows returns before financing, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, or mitigation. Investors with verified low expenses should investigate; those needing a wide cushion should be cautious.

02Housing economics

Zillow’s 2026-06 home-value change was 2.61% year over year and asking-rent change 5.22%, improving the rent-to-price direction but not proving net income. FHFA’s separate 2025 annual repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.21% year over year and 40.63% over five years. It is an index, not a dollar value, and cannot be averaged with Zillow’s different-vintage measure. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,318 is a payment standard, not asking rent; it does not determine yield.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS snapshot reports 58 median days on market, a 16.12% price-reduced share, and a 64.81% pending-to-active ratio. These are listing-market evidence: shorter marketing time and lower visible supply coexist with seller concessions; pending listings do not prove closed buyer demand. Positive net tax-return migration arrived with higher average AGI than departures, a useful demand screen but not proof of renter absorption. Investor purchases were a small share of purchase mortgages, suggesting owner-occupant competition warrants attention. QCEW’s annual county workplace series shows employment and average weekly wage gains; they are not resident labor measures. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual building-value loss is 0.09%, aligned with inland flood as the dominant hazard, but it is county-level rather than a parcel insurance or flood-zone result. Missing closed-sale prices, lease occupancy and turnover, insurance quotes, flood-zone and claims data, debt terms, and parcel tax records prevent a conclusion on achievable NOI, resale execution, or flood-adjusted return. Next checks are the subject property’s rent roll and expenses, FEMA or insurer evidence, and comparable closed sales.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Warren 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
Des Moines city*212.4KWest Des Moines city*71.1KIndianola city16KNorwalk city*14.2KCarlisle city*4.3KHartford city760Milo city731New Virginia city587
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

16 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Des Moines cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    212,421
  2. 02
    West Des Moines cityIncorporated place · spans 4 counties
    71,083
  3. 03
    Indianola cityIncorporated place
    16,044
  4. 04
    Norwalk cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    14,183
  5. 05
    Carlisle cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    4,255
  6. 06
    Hartford cityIncorporated place
    760
  7. 07
    Milo cityIncorporated place
    731
  8. 08
    New Virginia cityIncorporated place
    587
  9. 09
    Martensdale cityIncorporated place
    569
  10. 10
    Cumming cityIncorporated place
    545
  11. 11
    Lacona cityIncorporated place
    354
  12. 12
    St. Marys cityIncorporated place
    96
Show 4 more places
  1. 13
    Ackworth cityIncorporated place
    75
  2. 14
    Sandyville cityIncorporated place
    44
  3. 15
    Spring Hill cityIncorporated place
    39
  4. 16
    Bevington cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    15

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

0.091% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.43%

$3,865 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+302

1,822 in · 1,520 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$11,943

$74,381 arriving · $62,438 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors4.8%

47 of 982 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 listings252▼ 1.4% year over year
Median days on market58▼ 9.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced16.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 9.2% 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 Des Moines, IA

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
Warren County54,409$327k$1,1894.4%inland flooding
Polk County503,175$284k$1,2595.3%inland flooding
Dallas County107,968$356k$1,5465.2%inland flooding
Jasper County37,954$236k$1,0075.1%inland flooding
Madison County16,926$345kn/an/ainland flooding
Guthrie County10,688$281kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel-level flood exposure or insurance costs could exceed what the county climate model indicates.
  2. Actual operating expenses, vacancy, or property taxes could erase the stated pre-cost yield.
  3. MLS pending activity and migration may not convert into lease demand or executable resale pricing.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure supports the stated gross yield?

The $1,189 monthly median asking market rent; HUD’s $1,318 two-bedroom FMR does not.

What does FHFA show for the 2025 price direction?

The repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.21% year over year; it is not a home-value estimate.

What hazard metric is available for underwriting?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.09%; the measure is county-level.