Counties / Wyoming / Weston County

Weston County, WY

FIPS 56045 · population 6,826 · outside every metro area

$252k
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
$252k
▼ 1.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$698
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
$1,059
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+19.5%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.2%FHFA HPI2025−3.5%
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$222k
Surveyed gross rent$698
Rent burden 30%+43.7%
Median year built1974
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.4%vacant
3,406estimated housing units
Occupied tenure13.2% renter
owner 86.8%renter 13.2%
Structure mix74.4% single-family
Single-family 74.4%20+ units 0.5%Mobile home 17.4%Other 7.7%
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 jobs2,347▼ 3.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments270annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,065▲ 2.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities28.4% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−3.5%WEEKLY WAGE+2.4%Trade, transportation, and utilities28.4%
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

Weston County’s decision tension is a $252,122 Zillow county median home value in 2026-06 paired with declining price measures and no published market rent to test income coverage. Cash-flow-focused or flood-sensitive buyers should be cautious; a narrower case remains for investigators who can verify parcel rents, insurance, and exposure. Zillow shows a 1.23% year-over-year decline, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI fell 3.55% in its separately labeled 2025 annual observation. Those methods and vintages cannot be merged into one appreciation rate.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $1,059 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot stand in for rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.68%, with $1,510 median annual tax. That establishes a county tax reference, not an individual tax bill or a full carrying-cost estimate.

03Demand & competition

The demand and buyer-competition evidence is limited. Net migration was negative 8 tax-return households; the supplied incoming-versus-outgoing mover income gap was only $22, which does not establish a meaningful income distinction. Investors accounted for 9.52% of 42 purchase mortgages, signaling some non-owner participation but not capturing cash buyers or total competition. QCEW’s annual workplace-based covered employment fell 3.46% as average weekly covered-worker wages rose 2.40%; Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector, at 28.42% of private covered jobs. This is neither resident employment nor a demand forecast.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate-loss ratio is 0.15% of building value; it is not a property loss estimate. Realtor.com median listing price, active listings, days on market, and price-reduced share are not published, preventing an assessment of visible MLS supply, marketing time, or seller concessions. Closed-sale comparables, property-level insurance, condition, and flood maps are also absent, preventing price validation, full expense underwriting, and parcel-specific risk review.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Weston 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
Newcastle city3.3KUpton town892Hill View Heights CDP240Osage CDP114
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
    Newcastle cityIncorporated place
    3,348
  2. 02
    Upton townIncorporated place
    892
  3. 03
    Hill View Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    240
  4. 04
    Osage CDPCensus-designated place
    114

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

0.149% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.68%

$1,510 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-8

158 in · 166 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$22

$47,962 arriving · $47,940 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.5%

4 of 42 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. Actual rents, insurance, repairs, and vacancy may make economics materially different from the available price and tax data.
  2. Parcel-level inland-flood exposure may differ from the county climate-loss model.
  3. Unpublished MLS listing metrics and absent closed-sale evidence may alter the market-liquidity assessment.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is a county market rent published?

No. Only HUD two-bedroom FMR is supplied, and it is a payment standard rather than market rent.

Which physical hazard is identified?

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard.

Does QCEW employment measure county residents’ jobs?

No. It measures annual covered employment at workplaces in the county.