Worth County’s tension is that measured price appreciation sits beside an unproven income case and a shrinking covered-job base. Income-focused buyers should be cautious until rents and property-level costs are verified; buyers assessing local ownership exposure should investigate tenant and resale liquidity. Zillow’s June 2026 median home value was $196,940, up 5.07% year over year. FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 11.77% year over year and 53.65% over its five-year measure; it supports direction but is neither a home value nor the same observation period or method as Zillow.
No county market asking rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $919 Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not evidence of asking rent, and cannot replace market rent in underwriting. The stated 1.10% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input, but the relationship among price, tax burden, and rental income remains untested without rent evidence. Parcel tax bills, assessments, utility costs, insurance quotes, and lease comparables are needed before estimating net operating income.
QCEW annual-average covered employment at county workplaces fell 0.78% from the prior annual average. Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, not a measure of the county’s entire economy. Tax-return migration was net negative by 2 households, while incoming movers’ average income trailed outgoing movers by $1,172; these are limited demand signals, not a forecast. Investors accounted for 2 of 54 recorded purchase mortgages, or 3.70%, indicating limited observed non-owner competition rather than a measure of all buyers. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, or price-reduction data are published, so visible supply and seller-concession conditions cannot be assessed.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.13% of building value expected annually. This makes flood zone, elevation, insurance availability, and deductibles transaction-level checks, not an estimate of actual annual damage. The record does not publish market rent, Realtor listing-market measures, insurance costs, property condition, or parcel hazard exposure. Those omissions prevent a yield calculation, a listing-liquidity conclusion, and a property-specific all-in carrying-cost conclusion.