Johnson County

Johnson County, Arkansas scores 75 overall and ranks 1st in the state out of 74 counties, landing in the 93rd percentile nationally across a 1,000-county sample. The median home price sits at $189,171, up 4.34% year over year, with an affordability index of 89, meaning this market is meaningfully more accessible than the national baseline. The dataset does not supply a median rent or cap rate figure for Johnson, so a precise price-to-rent ratio and cash-on-cash return cannot be calculated here. What the scores do tell you clearly is where this county sits on the spectrum: appreciation at 84, affordability at 89, stability at 50, and a cash-flow score of 0. That profile describes a market where entry is cheap, prices are moving, but the current rent-to-price relationship either doesn't pencil for cash flow or lacks sufficient data to confirm it does. The 4.34% annual price growth on a $189,171 median is the headline number an appreciation buyer cares about.

Given the score structure, Johnson County suits an appreciation-oriented buyer more than a pure cash-flow operator. The $189,171 purchase price is low enough to limit downside exposure, and the 4.34% YoY price gain means an investor is capturing roughly $8,210 in equity appreciation annually on the median asset before any principal paydown. A 20% down payment of $37,834 keeps the capital commitment modest. At a 6.85% rate, the debt service alone is a real cost center, and with cash-flow scoring at zero, investors expecting immediate monthly income should look elsewhere or underwrite very carefully before committing. The affordability score of 89 does suggest that local residents can support rents at levels that track income, which is worth watching as the market matures, but the current data does not support claiming those rents already generate positive cash flow. Value-add operators who can force appreciation through renovation on low-basis assets may find more to work with here than a straight buy-and-hold landlord expecting day-one yield.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Johnson County, so employment concentration and job-base stability cannot be assessed from this dataset. The stability score of 50 is the only signal available on that dimension, and it sits squarely at the midpoint, neither reassuring nor alarming. Investors should independently research the local employer base and population trend before committing capital, particularly given the county's 25,925 population. Small markets at that size can be disproportionately sensitive to a single large employer adding or shedding jobs.

On carry costs, the tax and insurance picture is a genuine tailwind. Arkansas's state-average effective property tax rate is 0.62%, which the Tax Foundation flags as low, and the note in the data rightly cautions that actual county and township rates may differ. At that rate, annual property tax on the median asset runs $1,173, and insurance adds another $908 annually, producing a combined monthly tax-and-insurance burden of $173. For a landlord underwriting a $189,171 purchase, that $173 per month is well below what investors in Illinois or New Jersey would budget for the same price point. The low-rate flag is a real structural advantage that should show up favorably in any side-by-side comparison with higher-tax states, and it partially offsets the pressure the 6.85% mortgage rate puts on operating income.

The primary risks here are scale and data opacity. A 25,925-population county is a thin market: limited transaction volume makes comps unreliable, tenant pools are narrow, and liquidity on exit is constrained. The absence of a reported cap rate and cash-flow estimate in the data is itself a signal, since rent-to-price relationships in markets this small can be highly variable by neighborhood and asset type. Investors should not assume the state-average tax rate applies uniformly; rural Arkansas counties can carry township-level levies that diverge from the state average.

Compared to its neighbors, Johnson County commands a modest price premium over Prairie County ($149,082) and Scott County ($152,008) while scoring one point higher overall than both. Grant County prices in at $206,491 and matches Johnson's overall score of 74, meaning you're paying roughly 9% more for the same aggregate score. The most instructive comparison is Jefferson County, the one neighbor with rent data: at $84,271 median price and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.126, Jefferson is the clear cash-flow county in this peer group, with the $885.69 median rent generating a 12.6% gross yield on purchase price. An investor whose primary objective is monthly income should give Jefferson County serious attention before choosing Johnson. Johnson makes sense over its neighbors when the investor's thesis is appreciation on an affordable, low-carry-cost asset in Arkansas's top-ranked county, and when the underwrite doesn't depend on immediate positive cash flow to service debt.