All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / North Carolina / Hickory
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Hickory, NC
Hickory merits investigation by income-focused buyers who can tolerate weak employment and active construction; buyers requiring job growth or a scarcity-driven market should avoid it.
Median price$275k
Median rent$1,558
Gross yield6.8%
Job growth▼ 0.7%
Composite Market ScoreRank #489 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Hickory, NC?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,558 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 3.00% from a year earlier.
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Hickory
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catawba County, NCFIPS 37035 | $858 | $908 | $1,095 | $1,372 | $1,660 |
| Burke County, NCFIPS 37023 | $858 | $908 | $1,095 | $1,372 | $1,660 |
| Caldwell County, NCFIPS 37027 | $858 | $908 | $1,095 | $1,372 | $1,660 |
| Alexander County, NCFIPS 37003 | $858 | $908 | $1,095 | $1,372 | $1,660 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Hickory merits investigation by income-focused buyers who can tolerate weak employment and active construction; buyers requiring job growth or a scarcity-driven market should avoid it. The headline case is a published gross yield of 0.0681 from $1,558 asking rent against a $274,525 home value, before operating costs.
Opportunity and risk conflict. Asking rents rose 3% and net migration was 1,417 households, but CES employment fell 0.74%. The rent-to-income ratio is 0.2977, while the home-value-to-income ratio is 4.37, making affordability a constraint rather than a clear support.
Buy selectively rather than market-wide. The permit rate is 11.15 per thousand residents and inventory equals 4.4 months, giving buyers signs of choice while landlords face an active pipeline. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; the annual building-value loss ratio is 0.001175, and parcel-level exposure is not published.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What are the headline rental economics?
Median asking rent is $1,558 against a $274,525 median home value, with a published gross yield of 0.0681; operating costs and net yield are not published.
Are the tenant-demand signals aligned?
No. Asking rent rose 3% and net migration was 1,417 households, while CES employment fell 0.74% year over year.
What does the record establish about flood risk?
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual building-value loss ratio is 0.001175; property-level exposure is not published.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 6.8%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 3.00%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 6.6%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Hickory as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
Run cash flowStarts with this market's measured price and rentSave to shortlistCompare this metro with up to four other placesCheck rent by ZIPMove from metro context to a local rent benchmarkFind a comparison marketRead a curated two-market decision analysisShare this analysisEmail the canonical link without adding page scriptsReport a data issueSend the figure, source and release period to review
Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply4.4 mo.▲ from 3.8 mo. a year ago
Median days on market56 days▼ from 59 days a year ago
Listings with price drops31.3%▲ from 29.3% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio97.2%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 2.3%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 3.00%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.8%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▼ 0.7%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady32→32
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
32| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 18 | 30% | 5.40 |
| Rent trend | 44 | 25% | 11.00 |
| Affordability | 20 | 15% | 3.00 |
| Supply pressure | 9 | 15% | 1.35 |
| Climate risk | 72 | 15% | 10.80 |
| Published score | 32 | ||
Hickory, NC scoreRank #489
32Job growth18/100
CES employment fell 0.74% year over year -> the labor backdrop is the main demand-side weakness.
Rent trend44/100
Median asking rent rose 3% to $1,558 and gross yield is 0.0681 -> current rent metrics support an income case, but net yield is not published.
Affordability20/100
Rent-to-income is 0.2977 and home-value-to-income is 4.37 -> affordability is a constraint for both tenants and buyers.
Supply pressure9/100
The permit rate is 11.15 per thousand residents, inventory is 4.4 months, and the price-drop share is 0.3131 -> the market lacks a clear scarcity signal.
Climate risk72/100
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual building-value loss ratio is 0.001175 -> parcel-level flood exposure remains essential diligence.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$275k
YoY ▲ 2.3%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,558
YoY ▲ 3.00%
Gross Rental Yield
6.8%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,558 × 12 ÷ $274,525
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 0.7%
CES payrolls
Job signal 18/100
Median Household Income
$63k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
29.8%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
4.4x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,095
Market rent 142.3% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,558Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$908−$650 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,095−$463 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$869−$689 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Hickory as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Hickory, NC
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 25860. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.
Direct recent-lease rent history
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Recent-lease rent$9472026-07 · +3.3% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Hickory
BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.
BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Occupation wage lens
How asking rent sits against major local occupations
Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.
Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Production Occupations$45,450 median wage
41.1%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$41,290 median wage
45.3%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$43,110 median wage
43.4%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$28,720 median wage
65.1%
Sales and Related Occupations$35,110 median wage
53.2%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$78,990 median wage
23.7%
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
3,882 units authorised in 2026, 23% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
+1,417
7,036 in vs 5,619 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 20.1% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$9,090
Arriving $66,377 vs leaving $57,287
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
6.6%
285 of 4,353 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.118% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Mecklenburg County · Lincoln County · Iredell County · Gaston County · McDowell County
✓ 7,036 in − 5,619 out = 1,417 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Charlotte, NC2,092 arriving
- Marion, NC193 arriving
- Asheville, NC181 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Charlotte, NC1,570 leaving
- Raleigh, NC126 leaving
- Asheville, NC120 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- CES employment fell 0.74% year over year, so the labor signal does not confirm the positive rent and migration signals.
- Permits total 4,106, inventory is 4.4 months, and the price-drop share is 0.3131, weakening the scarcity case.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, while parcel-level exposure is not published, leaving property-specific loss risk unresolved.
Inside this metro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Hickory
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory, NC (Target) | 32 | $275k | $1,558 | 6.8% | ▼ 0.7% |
| South Bend, IN | 61 | $243k | $1,348 | 6.7% | ▼ 0.7% |
| Fayetteville, NC | 36 | $260k | $1,475 | 6.8% | ▼ 1.3% |
| Utica, NY | 61 | $235k | $1,393 | 7.1% | ▼ 0.3% |
| Columbus, GA | 47 | $212k | $1,295 | 7.3% | ▼ 0.2% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |