Layton Farmington home loans get written under a different FHA ceiling than the one most Salt Lake buyers have memorized, and that single fact reshapes which program fits before you ever pick a house. Both cities sit in Davis County, which federal housing agencies group with Ogden rather than Salt Lake City, and the FHA limit that comes with that grouping is more than 100,000 dollars higher than the one a few miles south.

The two cities are also not one market. Second quarter 2026 sales data shows a roughly 270,000 dollar gap between the median single family price in Farmington and the median in Layton's larger ZIP code, and the Layton side is itself split between an east bench ZIP and a west side ZIP that behave differently. A buyer who prices the county from one listing feed is going to be wrong about at least one of these places.

Our office is at 2150 South 1300 East in Salt Lake City, and the Sharla Ellis Team writes loans across Davis County. Below we walk through the 2026 limits that actually apply here, what the ZIP level prices mean for your program choice, the freeway and rail changes that have reshaped the commute, the military angle that dominates the north end of Layton, and a seasonal water bill that most escrow estimates leave out.

Where Layton and Farmington Sit in Davis County

Davis County is the narrow strip between the Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake running north from the Salt Lake County line to Weber County. Farmington is the county seat, sitting roughly in the middle of that strip, and Layton is the county's largest city, sitting toward the north end with its northern edge against Hill Air Force Base.

The scale difference is large. The 2020 census counted 81,773 people in Layton, and the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate puts it at 87,392, which makes it the most populous city in Davis County and the ninth most populous in Utah. Farmington counted 24,531 people in 2020, with a 2023 estimate of 25,771. Layton was incorporated as a town in 1920 and became a city in 1950, and its growth tracks the base almost exactly. Hill was created in 1940, and the wartime buildup that followed turned a farming town into the county's economic center. Layton City describes itself today as a regional leader in economic development with immediate adjacency to Hill Air Force Base, and the city posted 1.34 billion dollars in retail sales as far back as 2014, anchored by Layton Hills Mall.

Farmington's identity is older and quieter. It was settled in 1847, incorporated on February 18, 1852, and holds the county courthouse, the Davis School District headquarters at 45 East State Street, and Lagoon, the amusement park founded in 1886 that occupies about 100 acres inside the city. The newer piece is Station Park, a transit oriented retail center built around the Farmington FrontRunner stop on the west side of Interstate 15. To the east, Farmington Canyon climbs straight into the Wasatch. To the west, Farmington Bay is a state waterfowl management area on the lake.

The 2026 Loan Limits Behind Layton Farmington Home Loans

This is the section to read twice, because the numbers here are not the numbers on our Salt Lake County pages.

The 2026 conforming loan limit for a one unit home in Davis County is 832,750 dollars, published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That is the same figure as Salt Lake County, because both counties sit at the national baseline. The jumbo threshold does not move when you cross the county line at North Salt Lake.

The FHA figure does move, and it moves a long way. The 2026 FHA limit for a one unit home in Davis County is 744,050 dollars, published by HUD. In Salt Lake County the same figure is 637,100 dollars. The gap is 106,950 dollars on the same program, and the reason is administrative rather than economic: HUD sets FHA limits by metropolitan statistical area, Davis County belongs to the Ogden area rather than the Salt Lake City area, and the Ogden area's limit calculation lands higher. Weber and Morgan counties share the same figures for the same reason.

Both limits apply to the loan amount, not the purchase price. A larger down payment can pull a file under a ceiling that the sale price alone would clear. But the practical effect of the Davis figure is that FHA reaches almost the entire Layton market and most of the Farmington market at a 3.5 percent down payment, where in Salt Lake County it tops out below the median in several east side cities. If you have been told FHA does not fit at your price, and that conversation happened with a Salt Lake County number, ask again with the Davis number.

We covered the same two figures for the south end of the county in our guide to Bountiful Utah home loans. They apply identically in Kaysville, Centerville, Syracuse, and Clearfield.

Two Cities, Three Price Bands

The Salt Lake Board of Realtors publishes ZIP level sales data, and the second quarter of 2026, April through June, lays the split out plainly.

• Farmington, ZIP 84025: median single family sale price of 780,000 dollars, with condominiums at a median of 570,000 dollars.
• East Layton, ZIP 84040: median single family sale price of 597,000 dollars. This is the bench side of the city, east of Interstate 15 and climbing toward US-89 and the mountain.
• Layton, ZIP 84041: median single family sale price of 507,700 dollars. This is the larger ZIP, covering the center and west side of the city out toward Syracuse.

For comparison, Bountiful's 84010 came in at 615,750 dollars in the same quarter, and Salt Lake County as a whole set a record at 645,000 dollars. So Farmington prices above Salt Lake County's median, east Layton sits just under Bountiful, and west Layton is the most affordable single family market in the county's central and northern cities.

Here is what that does to Layton Farmington home loans in practice. At the 84041 median, a 3.5 percent FHA down payment or a 3 percent conventional down payment is a mid five figure sum, and the loan amount lands comfortably under both the FHA and conforming limits. At the Farmington median, a 3.5 percent FHA down payment leaves a loan amount that still fits under the 744,050 dollar Davis FHA ceiling, which would not be true one county south. And at the top of the Farmington market, a buyer approaching the conforming limit can either bring a larger down payment to stay conforming or move to a jumbo program. We walk through how the down payment math works at each band in our guide to how much down payment you need, and the same framework applies here with Davis limits substituted.

Quarterly medians are a snapshot rather than a promise. A ZIP with a few large new construction closings in a quarter can post a median that the resale market does not support, and a small ZIP like 84025 moves more than a large one like 84041. Use these figures to choose a program and a search area, then price the specific house on its own comparables.

Down Payment Routes for Layton Farmington Home Loans

Most Davis County buyers we work with land in one of four programs, and the choice depends as much on the price band above as on the buyer.

• Conventional at 3 to 5 percent down. Fits anywhere under the 832,750 dollar conforming limit, which is nearly every home in both cities. Mortgage insurance is required under 20 percent down and can be removed later as equity builds. This is the usual answer for a buyer with solid credit and reserves who is buying on the Layton bench or in Farmington.
• FHA at 3.5 percent down. Fits under the 744,050 dollar Davis limit, which is the whole Layton market and most of Farmington. FHA's mortgage insurance structure is different from conventional and stays for the life of the loan at the minimum down payment, so we compare lifetime cost, not just the monthly figure. Our page on conventional versus FHA lifetime cost shows how that comparison is built.
• VA at zero down. For eligible service members, veterans, and surviving spouses. This is the dominant program at the north end of Layton for an obvious reason, and it is covered in its own section below.
• Jumbo. For loan amounts above 832,750 dollars, which in this pair of cities means the upper Farmington market and the largest bench homes in east Layton. Jumbo guidelines vary by investor on down payment, reserves, and documentation, so we set expectations early.

USDA is not on that list because it does not apply. Layton and Farmington are both inside the USDA ineligible area that covers nearly all of Davis County, along with Bountiful, Centerville, Kaysville, and Clearfield. Buyers looking for a zero down program without military eligibility should look at the state options instead. Utah Housing Corporation loans pair a first mortgage with a second for down payment and closing costs, and they are available statewide, not just in Salt Lake County. Our overview of Utah down payment assistance programs covers what is available in 2026, and whether assistance has to be paid back answers the question that follows.

One caution on assistance at Davis prices. Programs with purchase price caps or income limits fit the 84041 band well and get tighter as you move to the bench or to Farmington. We check the cap against the actual list price before anyone falls in love with a house that the program cannot reach.

Military Buyers and the North End of Layton

Hill Air Force Base is the single largest employer in Utah at one site. In 2023 the base counted 4,853 active duty personnel, 1,067 Air Force reservists, and 14,787 federal civilian employees, and the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute estimates that 98.9 percent of its civilian jobs and 85.3 percent of its military jobs are located in Davis County. That is close to one in ten jobs in the county. Layton is the city that borders the base, and a large share of the buyers we talk to in 84041 work there in one capacity or another.

For buyers with VA eligibility, the program details are in our guide to VA loans near Hill Air Force Base, which covers Layton, Clearfield, and Roy, how the Certificate of Eligibility is requested, how Basic Allowance for Housing is treated in qualifying, and how to plan a closing around orders. We will not repeat it here. What we will add is the piece that applies to the roughly 15,000 federal civilians rather than the uniformed staff: they are not VA eligible on the basis of that employment, and they are the group most often surprised that the Davis FHA limit reaches the whole Layton market. A civilian engineer buying on the east bench near the 84040 median has FHA, conventional, and in some cases assistance all available, and the right one is a lifetime cost question rather than a qualification question.

Federal employment also shapes how we document income. A civilian position at Hill is stable W-2 income, but shift differentials, overtime, and locality adjustments each have their own rules for how many months of history a lender wants before counting them. We ask for the full leave and earnings statement early so nothing gets excluded at underwriting that could have been documented in week one.

The Commute Changed in 2024, and It Changes Which Neighborhoods Work

Two things happened in Davis County transportation that matter to a buyer choosing between these cities and between the east and west sides of each.

The first is the West Davis Corridor, State Route 177, which opened to traffic on January 6, 2024. It is a 16 mile, four lane freeway running from the Interstate 15 and Legacy Parkway interchange in Farmington through Kaysville, Layton, and Syracuse to State Route 193 in West Point, built by Farmington Bay Constructors for about 750 million dollars. Its interchanges include 950 North in Farmington, 200 North in Kaysville, 2700 West in Layton, and 2000 West and Antelope Drive in Syracuse. Before it opened, the west side of Layton was the far side of the city from the freeway. Now it has its own. That is a large part of why the 84041 band is where the county's more affordable single family inventory sits and why that inventory is no longer a commute penalty. The Utah Department of Transportation has long range plans to extend the corridor north through Weber County, with work described as starting in summer 2026 and finishing in late 2028 or early 2029.

The second is rail. UTA FrontRunner runs from Ogden to Provo on an 83 mile corridor with 15 stations, and two of them are in these cities. Layton Station is at 150 South Main Street on the site of the old Union Pacific depot, and Farmington Station is at 450 North 850 West, inside Station Park. Clearfield Station at 1250 South State Street serves the north end of Layton. A buyer who works downtown and buys within a short drive of one of those stops has a real alternative to Interstate 15, and that alternative is worth pricing when you compare a Farmington home near Station Park against a cheaper one farther from any station.

Interstate 15 itself runs through the center of Layton with three interchanges, and US-89 follows the east edge of both cities along the bench. Our standing advice for the whole county applies: drive the commute at the hour you would actually drive it, and price the FrontRunner alternative if a station is close.

Schools, Water, and the Escrow Line Nobody Estimates

Both cities are served by Davis School District, which operates four high schools, six junior highs, and fifteen elementary schools inside Layton alone. Farmington High School opened in August 2018 as the district's newest high school, funded by a 298 million dollar bond voters approved in 2015 to relieve crowding at Davis and Viewmont, and the boundary process that created it redrew attendance lines across the middle of the county. That is the reason to verify the school assignment for your specific address through the district's school finder rather than assuming from the city name or from a listing field. A listing field is a data entry, not a determination.

Property tax in Davis County is set by the county, the city, the school district, and any special districts a parcel sits in, and it is generally collected through escrow as part of your monthly payment. We build that line from the county record for the exact parcel rather than from a neighborhood average, because two similar homes on different sides of a district line can carry different figures.

Then there is water, and this is the part most escrow estimates miss. Much of Davis County runs a pressurized secondary irrigation system alongside culinary water, delivering untreated water for lawns and landscaping through a separate connection. That secondary water is billed separately, often seasonally, and it does not appear in the mortgage escrow because it is a utility rather than a tax. In 2022 the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 242, now Utah Code 73-10-34, which requires secondary water suppliers with pressurized systems to install meters on end user connections by January 1, 2030, backed by 250 million dollars in state funding to cover a large share of the installation cost. The stated goal is 20 to 40 percent water savings once people can see what they use. For a buyer, the practical meaning is that a lot with a large lawn on secondary water may currently carry a flat seasonal fee, and metering can turn that into a usage based bill. Ask whether the property has secondary water, ask what the current assessment is, and put that figure in your monthly budget even though it will never appear on the loan estimate.

One more Farmington specific item. Homes at the mouth of Farmington Canyon and along the bench above US-89 sit where the mountain meets the valley, and the county's geologic hazard mapping identifies areas along the Wasatch Front with debris flow and fault related considerations. That does not make a bench home a bad purchase. It does mean the appraisal, the homeowner's insurance quote, and the seller's disclosure deserve a closer read than a flat lot in the middle of 84041, and the insurance figure belongs in the escrow estimate before you commit to a payment.

Getting Started With Layton Farmington Home Loans

The order that works in Davis County is the same order that works everywhere, with one county specific step added at the front.

• Start from the Davis limits, not the Salt Lake ones. A 744,050 dollar FHA ceiling and an 832,750 dollar conforming ceiling define which programs are on the table at your price. Get those two numbers right first.
• Pick a price band before a city. Farmington, east Layton, and west Layton are three different markets. Decide which band your payment supports, then shop the band.
• Get a full pre-approval, not a pre-qualification. Documented income, assets, and a credit review before you write an offer. Our five move pre-approval checklist lays out exactly what to gather.
• Verify the school, the tax, and the water on the specific parcel. District assignment through Davis School District, the tax figure from the county record, and the secondary water assessment from the seller or the supplier.
• Drive the commute and price the train. Then decide whether the West Davis Corridor or a FrontRunner station makes a cheaper neighborhood a better one.

If you are coming to the county from the south, our guides to Bountiful and to Salt Lake County home values by submarket give you the comparison points. If you are relocating from out of state, the California relocation guide covers how out of state income and a pending sale are handled, and the same process applies to a Davis County purchase.

Frequently Asked Questions About Layton Farmington Home Loans

This article is for educational purposes and does not constitute a commitment to lend. Loan approval is subject to underwriting and to a full review of credit, income, assets, and property eligibility. Program guidelines, down payment minimums, mortgage insurance terms, reserve requirements, occupancy requirements, appraisal outcomes, assistance program income and purchase price limits, and rate lock availability vary by program, are administered by third parties, and are subject to change without notice. Loan limit figures reflect published 2026 amounts for Davis County, Utah, and differ by county and by number of units. Sales price figures are Salt Lake Board of Realtors medians for April through June 2026 and describe closed sales in a past period, not the value of any specific property. Employment, transportation, school, and water figures are drawn from published public sources as of the writing date and should be verified for your specific address. Sharla Ellis, NMLS #209040. Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, NMLS #2289. Equal Housing Opportunity.