Counties / Nebraska / Washington County

Washington County, NE

FIPS 31177 · population 21,106 · part of Omaha, NE

$406k
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
$406k
▲ 2.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$965
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
$1,368
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+50.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.3%FHFA HPI2025+1.9%
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$298k
Surveyed gross rent$965
Rent burden 30%+51.1%
Median year built1976
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
3.2%vacant
8,711estimated housing units
Occupied tenure16.8% renter
owner 83.2%renter 16.8%
Structure mix85.1% single-family
Single-family 85.1%20+ units 1.7%Mobile home 2.8%Other 10.5%
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 jobs8,493▼ 0.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments697annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,220▲ 2.8% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities28.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.6%WEEKLY WAGE+2.8%Trade, transportation, and utilities28.2%
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

Washington County presents an underwriting tension: price movement is positive, but income return is unmeasured. Zillow’s county observation labeled 2026-06 puts median home value at $405,754, up 2.28% year over year. Separately, FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.92% year over year and 50.05% cumulatively over five years. The series point in the same direction, but Zillow is a value estimate and FHFA is an index; their vintages and methods cannot be combined. Income-focused underwriting should remain cautious until property-level rents are verified.

02Housing economics

No median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The $1,368 HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not asking rent, and cannot substitute for market rent or support a yield estimate. Carrying-cost review also matters: the reported effective property-tax rate is 1.39%, with median annual property tax of $4,142. Parcel assessments, exemptions, insurance, and maintenance costs are not published, preventing an all-in operating-expense screen.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s supplied MLS listing-market evidence shows median listing price rose 11.23% and active listings increased. A 17.61% price-reduced share signals observable seller concessions, while the pending-to-active ratio was 63.06%; neither is a closed-sale measure or standalone proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration shows a net outflow of 76 households, although inbound movers’ average income exceeded outbound movers’ by $760. Investors represented 6.11% of purchase mortgages to nonoccupants, documenting some investor participation but not all buyer activity or cash competition.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled climate-loss ratio is an expected annual loss of 0.17% of building value, not a parcel-specific loss estimate. The annual QCEW record shows covered workplace employment declined; its largest disclosed private supersector is Trade, transportation, and utilities. QCEW is not resident employment, unemployment, or a demand forecast. Next checks are achieved rents, vacancy and lease turnover, closed-sale comparables, parcel flood-zone and insurance evidence, tax bills, and property condition. Without them, rent coverage, flood expense exposure, and acquisition-price support cannot be underwritten.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Washington 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
Blair city7.9KArlington village1.5KFort Calhoun city1.2KKennard village425Herman village360Washington village198Fontanelle CDP60
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
    Blair cityIncorporated place
    7,914
  2. 02
    Arlington villageIncorporated place
    1,467
  3. 03
    Fort Calhoun cityIncorporated place
    1,173
  4. 04
    Kennard villageIncorporated place
    425
  5. 05
    Herman villageIncorporated place
    360
  6. 06
    Washington villageIncorporated place
    198
  7. 07
    Fontanelle CDPCensus-designated place
    60

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

0.170% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.39%

$4,142 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-76

594 in · 670 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$760

$76,753 arriving · $75,993 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.1%

16 of 262 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 listings56▲ 7.8% year over year
Median days on market38▼ 5.0% year over year
Listings price-reduced17.6%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 11.2% 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 Omaha, NE page covers the wider market.
Same metro

The other counties in Omaha, NE

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
Washington County21,106$406kn/an/ainland flooding
Douglas County590,736$300k$1,4485.8%inland flooding
Sarpy County197,389$361k$1,4664.9%inland flooding
Pottawattamie County93,424$245k$1,3566.7%inland flooding
Cass County27,161$316k$1,2764.8%inland flooding
Saunders County23,048$364kn/an/ainland flooding
Harrison County14,632$232kn/an/ainland flooding
Mills County14,568$288kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Achieved rents or occupancy could be insufficient relative to acquisition price and carrying costs.
  2. Parcel-level flood exposure or insurance costs could differ materially from the county climate model.
  3. MLS asking-price and pending data may not translate into closed-sale pricing or durable buyer competition.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be used as market rent.

What does the investor-share measure represent?

It is the share of purchase mortgages made to nonoccupants, not a measure of all purchases or cash buyers.

What hazard requires parcel-level review?

Inland flood is identified as the dominant hazard.