A buyer scrolling through listings this month might stumble on a headline stat that stops them cold: Clearfield County home prices down 44 percent in a year. A seller might see the same number and start questioning whether now is the wrong time to list. Neither reaction fits what's actually happening on the ground, and the reason why is the more useful story.
Over the three months ending May 2026, the county's sold-home median landed at $94,000, a 44 percent drop from the same window a year earlier. That number is accurate. It is also built on eleven recorded sales, down from sixteen the year before. In a county this rural, a swing from sixteen closings to eleven is enough to send the median lurching in either direction, because a handful of higher-priced or lower-priced homes closing in any given month can move the midpoint by tens of thousands of dollars. Days on market tightened too, averaging 53 days compared to 64 a year prior, which is not the signature of a market in free fall. Fewer sales, faster closings, and a wildly lower median can all be true at once when the sample is this thin.
One County, Four Different "Medians"
Search for Clearfield County's median home price this month and you will land on at least four different figures, and none of them are wrong. The $94,000 sold-price median above covers a trailing three-month window across the entire county. A broader estimate puts the figure closer to $137,000. A third source lists the county's overall median home price at $145,108, drawn from a wider mix of transaction types than the three-month sold figure above. Narrow the search to homes currently listed for sale in the borough of Clearfield itself, and August 2026 data shows a median asking price of $259,000, up 13 percent year over year, with homes spending a median of just 29 days on the market, 30 percent faster than the year before.
Four numbers, one county, a nearly threefold spread. That spread exists because each figure measures something different: sold price versus asking price, three months versus twelve, the whole county versus a single borough. None of these sources disagree because one of them made an error. They disagree because "Clearfield County" is not one market, and treating it like one is where a buyer or seller gets misled.
Forty-Two Towns, One Average
Clearfield County contains 42 distinct municipalities, and the price range across them makes the countywide median look almost arbitrary. Recent listing data puts New Millport as the priciest of the group, with a median listing price of $329,000, while Osceola Mills sits at the other end with a median around $11,296. Penfield's typical house price runs closer to $80,050. DuBois, the county's commercial hub, carries the highest volume of activity in the county, with 110 recently sold homes and also the highest count of foreclosures at five.
| Municipality | What the recent data shows |
|---|---|
| New Millport | Highest median listing price in the county, around $329,000 |
| Clearfield (borough) | August 2026 list median of $259,000, up 13% year over year |
| DuBois | Highest sales volume in the county, 110 recently sold homes |
| Penfield | Among the most affordable, around $80,050 |
| Osceola Mills | Lowest median in the county, around $11,296 |
Average all 42 of these towns together and you get a single blended number that describes none of them accurately. A buyer comparing Clearfield County to a neighboring market by looking at the countywide median is comparing an average of a resort lot near a golf course to a fixer-upper an hour away in coal country. The average is real. It just doesn't apply to any specific address.
Land Prices Tell the Same Story
The same mixing problem shows up in Clearfield County's land market, and it is arguably more dramatic there. Depending on which land-data platform you check, the average price per acre in the county currently runs anywhere from about $2,820 to roughly $17,832, with a third estimate landing near $5,474. That is not a rounding difference. It is a sixfold spread on the same county.
The explanation is the geography itself. Clearfield County spans roughly 1,145 square miles of mountainous terrain cut by the West Branch Susquehanna River, with the Quehanna Wild Area, Pennsylvania's largest, and the Moshannon State Forest covering large stretches of the county in timber and public game lands. A 95-acre recreational tract deep in that forest, priced for hunting and privacy rather than proximity, pulls the per-acre average down because the total price is spread across so much land. A half-acre build-ready lot near town, or a wooded parcel inside Treasure Lake with utilities already run, pulls the per-acre average sharply up because you are paying for location and readiness, not raw acreage. Average those two very different products together and the resulting per-acre figure describes neither one.
What This Actually Means If You're Comparing Neighborhoods
None of this means Clearfield County's market is unknowable. It means the countywide number is the wrong tool for the question most buyers and sellers are actually asking. A few adjustments make the picture usable:
- Ask for the median in the specific municipality you're considering, not the county. New Millport and Osceola Mills are both technically "Clearfield County," and treating them as comparable markets will produce bad decisions in either direction.
- If you're comparing land, ask how many acres are in the comp set before trusting a per-acre figure. A handful of large recreational tracts will drag the average down; a handful of small build-ready lots will push it up.
- Weigh sold data more heavily than list data when the sample size is small. Eleven sales in a month is a real number, but it is not a trend line.
- Treat any countywide figure as a starting point for a conversation, not an answer. The Federal Reserve's own Realtor.com-sourced inventory data for the county shows month-to-month swings that reflect exactly this kind of small-market volatility, which is a useful gut check before reacting to any single headline stat.
For a family comparing a move to DuBois against a move to Clearfield borough, or an investor weighing a rental purchase against a raw land parcel, the countywide median is close to meaningless. What matters is the specific town, the specific parcel type, and the specific comps around that address. That is also where a complimentary, address-specific market analysis earns its keep over a portal's blended county number.
A Few Common Questions
Is Clearfield County a buyer's market right now? It depends entirely on which municipality and which property type you mean. Slower-moving areas with small sale counts can look soft on paper while a specific town like Clearfield borough is actually seeing faster sales and rising asking prices. The county-level answer is not a reliable guide to any single address.
Does this same pattern show up in Treasure Lake? Treasure Lake operates as its own inventory pool inside the county, distinct from the surrounding boroughs and townships, so it is worth evaluating separately rather than folding into a countywide average built mostly from non-resort housing stock.
Why do land prices vary so much more than home prices? Home prices are anchored by structures and lot size within a fairly narrow range. Land prices in a county this large swing based on acreage alone: a 100-acre forested tract and a half-acre building lot are both "land," but they serve completely different buyers and price on completely different logic.
If you're weighing a move, a purchase, or a sale anywhere in Clearfield County, from a borough lot to a wooded acreage tract, the smartest first step is a comp set built around your specific address rather than a countywide dashboard. Nelson Realty offers a complimentary market analysis built from local, address-level data. Search current listings or request your free valuation to see what the numbers actually look like on your street, not the county's.
