Polk County, IA: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties
Polk County, IA, Iowa: 42 ZIP codes scored, Polk County, IA averaging 30/100 (moderate, Polk, IA), from 17 to 33. Polk County, IA is in its peak phase (Polk, IA confidence 15/100): Polk, IA home prices up 2.1% (Polk, IA) over twelve months. Polk County, IA lender headwind: 53/100.
Highest-scoring Polk County, IA ZIPs: 50007 (33/100), 50009 (33/100), 50021 (33/100), 50023 (33/100), 50032 (33/100), 50035 (33/100). Also scored in Polk County, IA: 50073, 50131, 50226, 50265, 50309, 50310, 50311, 50312, 50313, 50314.
Across Polk County, IA's scored ZIPs: median home value $285,618, household income $90,034, 6.7% vacancy, 9.3% poverty, 76% owner-occupied, median age 37.8.
Polk County, IA insurance distress 68/100 (#681 in the US); FEMA hazard 52/100 for Polk, IA; 6 federal disaster declarations in Polk County, IA since 2023; 31 Polk, IA NFIP flood claims, $1.7M paid; Polk, IA construction distress 67/100.
39 banks with 132 branches lend in Polk County, IA; Polk, IA weighted bank stress 64/100, highest 94/100 in Polk, IA.
Polk County, IA unemployment 3.8% (Polk, IA +0.2 pts, six months); 3,528 new housing units permitted in Polk County, IA over twelve months, Polk, IA down 17% from 4,264; Polk, IA home prices +8.3% a year (Polk, IA) over three years.
218,486 housing units in Polk County, IA; 66,647 Polk, IA renter households; 42% of Polk, IA renters spend 30%+ of income on rent, 20% (Polk, IA) half or more.
Polk County, IA ranks #1,353 nationally on the opportunity index (Polk, IA, among all ranked counties); Polk, IA scores 29.9/100 and Polk, IA sits #15 inside Iowa. Polk, IA is in the early_signal opportunity phase; Polk, IA's primary driver is construction, Polk, IA second driver bank institutional; Polk, IA moved up 505 places. 192 short-sale listings across Polk, IA; 57 days on market observed in Polk, IA; 5.6% vacancy over 42 Polk, IA ZIPs.
1.0% of Polk County, IA mortgages were ninety-plus days late in December 2025; Polk, IA's thirty-to-eighty-nine-day share was 2.1% (CFPB county sample). Polk, IA's ninety-day rate is up 0.3 points on twelve months earlier; the Polk, IA peak since 2008 was 3.2% in June 2010; Iowa overall reads 0.9%.
Polk County, IA has 28 watched banks; 28 Polk, IA banks sit in an elevated band. Polk, IA footprints: Bankers Trust Co (12 branches, stress 71) in Polk, IA; Community State Bank (9 branches, stress 58) in Polk, IA; Midwest Heritage Bank Fsb (6 branches, stress 48) in Polk, IA.
HUD lists 43 assisted multifamily properties in Polk County, IA with 3,800 units; 1,566 Polk, IA units are assisted, 14 Polk, IA properties under project-based Section 8.
13,128 of the 218,486 housing units in Polk, IA sit vacant. Polk County, IA permitted 1,165 multifamily units in twelve months; Polk, IA's one-to-four unit structures added 2,363 units in Polk County, IA.