Counties / Maine / York County

York County, ME

FIPS 23031 · population 216,731 · part of Portland, ME

$537k
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
$537k
▲ 1.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$2,151
▲ 1.6% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.8%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,716
market rent is 1.25x 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+66.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.4%FHFA HPI2025+5.7%
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$396k
Surveyed gross rent$1,339
Rent burden 30%+44.3%
Median year built1980
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
20.6%vacant
115,091estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.7% renter
owner 77.3%renter 22.7%
Structure mix73.6% single-family
Single-family 73.6%20+ units 3.6%Mobile home 6.1%Other 16.6%
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 jobs79,299▼ 0.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments8,557annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,232▲ 3.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities20.9% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.1%WEEKLY WAGE+3.6%Trade, transportation, and utilities20.9%
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

York County merits property-level investigation for investors testing whether current income can offset a high entry value, but cautious buyers should not treat its appreciation evidence as one rate or its gross yield as net return. Zillow’s county 2026-06 median home value was $537,224, up 1.38% year over year, and its median asking rent was $2,151 monthly. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 5.68%. That index confirms positive price direction but is not a home value; its different vintage and method cannot be averaged with Zillow.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent—not HUD FMR—underlies the reported 4.80% gross yield before costs. Market rent was 25.30% above the HUD two-bedroom Fair Market Rent payment standard; FMR is not an asking-rent estimate and cannot substitute for it in yield analysis. The 0.96% effective property-tax rate is a material carrying-cost input, though it does not establish a parcel bill. Modeled climate loss equals 0.11% of building value per year and aligns with inland flood as the dominant hazard, not a property-specific loss estimate.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed and county-level. Net migration was 853 tax-return households, and incoming average AGI exceeded outgoing average by $14,066; this supports examining the income profile of arrivals but does not establish tenant demand or a neighborhood trend. Investor mortgage purchases were 248 of 2,860, or 8.67%, showing non-owner participation but not cash-buyer competition or bidding intensity. In 2025, QCEW annual covered employment at county workplaces fell 0.10%. It is neither resident employment nor unemployment; Trade, transportation, and utilities is only the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

At Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS observation, median listing price was down 4.76% year over year and 17.34% of active listings had price reductions. These are asking-price, visible-listing and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand alone. Vacancy, renewal, and lease-concession evidence is not published, preventing a rent-durability conclusion. Operating expenses, insurance quotes, financing terms, closed-sale comparables, and parcel-level flood exposure are also not published; without them, net cash flow, debt service, asset value, and property-specific hazard underwriting remain unresolved.

Cities & communities

Where people live within York 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
Biddeford city22.5KSanford city22.2KSaco city20.8KOld Orchard Beach CDP9.2KKennebunk CDP6.2KKittery CDP5.1KYork Harbor CDP4.2KSouth Eliot CDP4.2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

19 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Biddeford cityIncorporated place
    22,498
  2. 02
    Sanford cityIncorporated place
    22,247
  3. 03
    Saco cityIncorporated place
    20,819
  4. 04
    Old Orchard Beach CDPCensus-designated place
    9,244
  5. 05
    Kennebunk CDPCensus-designated place
    6,221
  6. 06
    Kittery CDPCensus-designated place
    5,110
  7. 07
    York Harbor CDPCensus-designated place
    4,240
  8. 08
    South Eliot CDPCensus-designated place
    4,203
  9. 09
    South Berwick CDPCensus-designated place
    3,381
  10. 10
    Lake Arrowhead CDPCensus-designated place
    3,322
  11. 11
    Cape Neddick CDPCensus-designated place
    2,453
  12. 12
    Berwick CDPCensus-designated place
    1,998
Show 7 more places
  1. 13
    North Berwick CDPCensus-designated place
    1,702
  2. 14
    West Kennebunk CDPCensus-designated place
    1,395
  3. 15
    Kennebunkport CDPCensus-designated place
    1,276
  4. 16
    Cornish CDPCensus-designated place
    1,024
  5. 17
    Kittery Point CDPCensus-designated place
    935
  6. 18
    Kezar Falls CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    819
  7. 19
    Alfred CDPCensus-designated place
    661

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

0.111% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.96%

$3,787 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+853

6,586 in · 5,733 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$14,066

$84,065 arriving · $69,999 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors8.7%

248 of 2,860 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 listings776▼ 4.9% year over year
Median days on market38▼ 21.2% year over year
Listings price-reduced17.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 4.8% 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 Portland, ME

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
York County216,731$537k$2,1514.8%inland flooding
Cumberland County308,827$574k$2,4455.1%inland flooding
Sagadahoc County37,285$443k$1,8685.1%inland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Asking-rent evidence may not persist because vacancy, renewal and concession data are absent.
  2. Gross yield may overstate return if property-specific costs, insurance, financing or tax assessments differ from county inputs.
  3. County-level HPI, MLS and migration measures may not match a particular location, asset condition or tenant segment.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What rent measure is available for gross-yield work?

A county median asking-rent measure is published; HUD two-bedroom FMR is a separate payment standard.

Does QCEW measure York County residents' employment?

No. It measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces in York County.

What dominant hazard should property diligence address?

Inland flood; a county-level modeled climate-loss ratio is supplied, not parcel-specific exposure.