Counties / Utah / Wayne County

Wayne County, UT

FIPS 49055 · population 2,584 · outside every metro area

$452k
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
$452k
▲ 2.3% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$884
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
$973
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulativen/anot annualized · through n/a
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+2.3%FHFA HPIperiod n/an/a
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$412k
Surveyed gross rent$884
Rent burden 30%+18.8%
Median year built1985
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
33.4%vacant
1,735estimated housing units
Occupied tenure20.7% renter
owner 79.3%renter 20.7%
Structure mix87.5% single-family
Single-family 87.5%20+ units 0.0%Mobile home 9.3%Other 3.2%
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 jobs1,275▲ 3.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments158annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$912▲ 9.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality28.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.5%WEEKLY WAGE+9.5%Leisure and hospitality28.9%
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

Wayne County’s underwriting tension is a $452,217 Zillow median home value rising 2.33% year over year against a small, unevenly documented demand base. Buyers reliant on durable tenant demand or easy resale should be cautious; investigators should test property-specific rent, insurance, and buyer depth before treating the county price signal as supportable. Zillow’s value measure is not a closed-sale comp, and no FHFA repeat-transaction HPI observation is published to corroborate or challenge its direction.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $973 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not a market asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.34%, with median annual tax of $1,394; these are carrying-cost inputs, but county medians do not establish a subject property’s assessment or tax bill. No MLS listing price, active inventory, days on market, or reduction-share evidence is published, preventing a current visible-supply or seller-concession read.

03Demand & competition

Annual QCEW workplace employment totals 1,275 covered jobs, up 3.49%, while average weekly covered-worker wage was $912, up 9.48%. These are workplace data, not resident employment or a forecast. Leisure and hospitality, the largest disclosed private supersector, represents 28.93% of total private covered jobs, warranting tenant-demand and seasonality checks. Migration was negative by 37 tax-return households, though incoming movers’ average income exceeded outgoing movers’ by $3,938; that does not reveal tenure or purchase demand. The investor-share measure is 10.53% across 19 purchases: some non-owner participation, but a thin count.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.12% of building value per year; this county-level model is not an insurance quote or property flood determination. Absent market rent, sales comps, MLS liquidity measures, FHFA appreciation, vacancy, insurance, and property-level flood-zone data, the record cannot establish yield, exit liquidity, or all-in risk. Next checks are subject-unit asking rents and leases, tax assessment and insurance terms, flood maps and mitigation history, and transaction-level buyer and sale evidence.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Wayne 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
Loa town467Bicknell town446Torrey town323Teasdale CDP308Lyman town289Hanksville town215Fremont CDP90
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
    Loa townIncorporated place
    467
  2. 02
    Bicknell townIncorporated place
    446
  3. 03
    Torrey townIncorporated place
    323
  4. 04
    Teasdale CDPCensus-designated place
    308
  5. 05
    Lyman townIncorporated place
    289
  6. 06
    Hanksville townIncorporated place
    215
  7. 07
    Fremont CDPCensus-designated place
    90

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

0.116% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.34%

$1,394 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-37

42 in · 79 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,938

$55,381 arriving · $51,443 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.5%

2 of 19 mortgages

investorother financed
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; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Published home value may not represent executable sale pricing because closed-sale comps and MLS-market measures are absent.
  2. Unpublished market rent and vacancy leave income coverage and gross yield untested.
  3. County-level flood-loss modeling may diverge materially from a subject property’s flood zone, insurance terms, and mitigation history.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market asking rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted for market rent.

What is the disclosed primary climate risk?

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with modeled annual climate loss of 0.12% of building value.

How visible is investor participation in purchases?

The investor-share measure is 10.53% across 19 purchases, indicating some non-owner participation but a limited count.