Mason City, IA

Mason City, IA is presented here as a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area decision frame rather than a ranked market. The central limitation is specific: Zillow does not publish a trailing-12-month rent change for the series supplied, even though it supplies an asking-rent index of $909 and a home-value index of $204,625 at 2026-06-30. Because the 12-month rent change is unavailable, this report does not assign a score or rank. The available record can still organize questions around current rent/value economics, affordability measures, labor and construction readings, resale conditions, migration, mortgage-investor participation, and hazard exposure. It cannot establish rent momentum, a future path, or the return of a particular property.

Zillow’s asking-rent and home-value indexes give the cleanest contemporaneous market-level valuation screen, but they are not the same thing as a signed lease or a property operating statement. At 2026-06-30, Zillow reports rent at $909, value at $204,625, and the supplied gross-yield ratio at 0.0533. Its value index has a year-over-year change of 0.0358. That pairing says the packet contains a current rent/value relationship and a measured value change, while leaving the most useful rent-trend comparison blank. The value change should not be treated as rent growth, and the gross-yield ratio should not be treated as net income after costs. Zillow therefore provides a screening relationship, not evidence on concessions, turnover, collections, expenses, or realized rent growth.

Census ACS places median household income at $68,926, with supplied rent-to-income and price-to-income ratios of 0.1583 and 2.97. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $934, compared with Zillow’s $909 asking-rent index; the supplied rent-versus-FMR ratio is 0.973, and the arithmetical gap is $25. These are affordability boundaries, not interchangeable rent observations. Census ACS is a household-income measure, HUD FMR is an administrative benchmark for a two-bedroom standard, and Zillow is an asking-rent index. The close relationship between Zillow rent and HUD FMR does not identify lease rents by unit type, household burden, or eligibility. It does, however, make the distinction among the measures central to any affordability reading.

Labor, permits, and resale records show a mixed set of conditions rather than a single supply signal. BLS LAUS reports metro employment change of -0.0018 for the 12 months to 2026-05. Census Building Permits Survey records 24 total permits in 2026 YTD through M06, a permits-per-1k rate of 0.48, and 0.0 in the supplied five-plus category. Redfin, for 2026-05-01, shows 4.6 months of supply after 4.0, while median days on market is 61 after 65. The supply difference is 0.6 months and the market-time difference is 4 days, in opposite directions. Redfin also records a sale-to-list ratio of 0.9642 and price-drop shares of 0.2266 and 0.2231. Those movements should be read separately from permits: the series measure construction authorizations and for-sale listing behavior, not the same inventory or tenure.

Demand-side evidence is similarly bounded. IRS county-to-county tax-return migration, aggregated to the market, reports 1,028 movers in and 1,088 movers out, for net migration of -60. The reported AGI values are $61,721 for in-movers and $63,991 for out-movers, a supplied gap of -$2,270. These IRS figures describe filed-return migration, not household formation, tenant demand, or the timing of a move. HMDA offers a different lens: in 2024 it records 320 purchase mortgages, 26 classified as investor purchases, and an investor share of 0.0813. HMDA is purchase-mortgage occupancy evidence; it should not be merged with IRS migration into a claim that investor activity explains migration or that either measure captures every housing transaction.

FEMA’s National Risk Index adds a non-rent constraint: the top listed hazard is inland flood, in the water hazard class, with an expected annual loss ratio of 0.001523 and an NRI risk score of 60.8. These are market-level FEMA risk indicators, not a measurement of an individual structure’s flood exposure, insurance terms, repair bill, or interruption. Cost-level evidence in this packet is limited to Zillow’s rent and value indexes and HUD’s FMR benchmark. It does not include insurance premiums, taxes, maintenance, utilities, deductible terms, or loss history. Accordingly, the FEMA figures can flag a category that belongs beside the rent/value screen, but cannot turn the supplied gross-yield ratio into a cost-adjusted result.

The practical synthesis is conditional rather than directional. A renter, landlord, or small investor can see a current Zillow rent/value relationship, a Census ACS income context, a HUD benchmark, a negative BLS employment change, Census Building Permits records, and Redfin measures that moved in different directions. IRS shows a net outflow in the supplied migration series, while HMDA identifies a bounded investor-purchase share; FEMA identifies inland flood as the principal listed hazard. The next decision-relevant investigation is therefore not a market rank, which is unavailable, but reconciliation of the categories that the packet does not join: achieved rents and concessions against Zillow asking rents; unit mix against HUD FMR; permit records against active listings; purchase-mortgage occupancy against the full transaction record; and site-specific hazard and operating-cost documentation against FEMA’s aggregate index. Those checks would test the gaps in the evidence without converting market averages into neighborhood or property conclusions.