A typical Sterling home is worth roughly $133,000
Builders were permitted 5 new homes in 2025.
What kind of housing town is Sterling?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
A typical home costs 2.4 years of income
Less than across Kansas (3.4 years). Try your own numbers below.
That covers a typical Sterling home, with $71K to spare.
A two-bedroom rents for about $880 a month here, $40 more than owning.
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, Sterling’s typical property tax (1.26% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
1 of Sterling’s houses are on the National Register
Half of Sterling’s homes were built before 1955.
Kansas: 67% own.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024. Historic houses: National Register of Historic Places.
A two-bedroom rents for about $880
Renters already here pay a median of $689, so moving in tends to cost more than staying put.
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (Reno County, KS): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
5 new homes permitted in 2025
Builders were permitted 5 new homes in Sterling in 2025, all single-family houses, worth about $2.6 million to build. That's 2.1 per 1,000 residents, slower than across Kansas (3.7). Over the past 10 years, Sterling has permitted 79 homes in all.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, Sterling's population fell by 80 even though 15 new homes were permitted. Homes are holding fewer people: households are getting smaller, or more homes are used part of the year. Across Kansas: 1.1 new residents per new home.
Every year as a table
| Year | New homes | Single-family | 2+ per building | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 2 | 2 | 0 | $1.1 million |
| 2025 | 5 | 5 | 0 | $2.6 million |
| 2024 | 4 | 1 | 3 | $425,000 |
| 2023 | 20 | 14 | 6 | $4 million |
| 2022 | 18 | 18 | 0 | $4.4 million |
| 2021 | 20 | 20 | 0 | $4.9 million |
| 2020 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $300,000 |
| 2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $150,000 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $150,000 |
| 2017 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $578,000 |
| 2016 | 5 | 5 | 0 | $780,000 |
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $130,000 |
| 2014 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $300,000 |
| 2013 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $455,000 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2009 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $305,000 |
| 2008 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $305,000 |
| 2007 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $305,000 |
| 2006 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $100,000 |
| 2005 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $412,000 |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $50,000 |
| 2003 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $345,000 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2001 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $315,000 |
| 2000 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $314,000 |
Homes authorized by building permits, counted in the year the permit was issued. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
On the market in Sterling
Listed in the past 60 days. Each opens on the listing site.
Neighbors talk housing
What Sterling buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. New homes: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Historic houses: National Register of Historic Places. Listings link to their publishers. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer.