Perry County

Perry County's headline numbers tell a clear story: at a median home price of $188,441 with 5.46% year-over-year appreciation, this is an appreciation-first market. The cash flow score sits at 0 and the cap rate is not calculable from the available data, which means the tool is flagging this county as one where rental income alone is unlikely to carry the investment comfortably at current prices and a 6.85% rate. The affordability index of 90 and median price under $190,000 keep the entry point accessible, but investors should not expect the rent-to-price math to work cleanly here the way it might in a deeper cash-flow market. What Perry does offer is a national percentile rank of 96 out of 1,000 counties and the top overall score in Arkansas at 77, driven almost entirely by its appreciation trajectory and affordability combination rather than current income production.

This market suits an appreciation buyer or a patient buy-and-hold investor who can tolerate modest or break-even cash flow in exchange for price growth running above 5% annually. With a purchase at $188,441 and a $37,688 down payment, the question is whether rental income in Perry County is sufficient to cover mortgage service at 6.85% plus carry costs. The data does not provide a median rent figure for Perry itself, so underwriting the income side requires local rent comps pulled from the market directly. What is clear is that the appreciation score of 87 out of 100 is the primary return driver here, and investors buying for current yield should look elsewhere. A value-add operator who can manufacture equity through renovation may find the affordability score of 90 useful, as relatively low entry prices give room to force appreciation on top of the market's organic 5.46% annual lift.

On the carry cost side, Perry County benefits from a meaningful tailwind: the combined monthly tax and insurance load is estimated at $173, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.62% and an insurance rate of 0.48% annually, producing roughly $1,168 in annual property tax and $905 in annual insurance on the median-priced asset. That $173 monthly figure is genuinely low and worth modeling carefully in your underwrite. At 0.62%, the property tax rate is flagged as low relative to national norms, which meaningfully reduces the fixed cost floor on any rental. The honest caveat here is that 0.62% is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Perry can differ, so verify the mill rate with the county assessor before closing.

Perry County is a small market, with a population of just over 10,000. That concentration creates real risk for a buy-and-hold investor: tenant demand is thin, vacancy can be structural rather than cyclical, and a single large employer reducing headcount or a demographic shift toward outmigration can move the rental pool materially. No economic anchor data is available for Perry County in this dataset, so employer concentration and job stability cannot be assessed from the provided figures. That absence itself is a flag, investors in markets this size need to do ground-level diligence on who is actually employing residents and whether that base is stable or shrinking.

Compared to its neighbors, Perry County earns the highest overall score at 77, with the next closest being Prairie County and Grant County both at 74. Grant County carries a higher median price at $206,491, making Perry the more affordable entry point with a better appreciation score. Jefferson County is the outlier in this peer group, with a median home price of just $84,271 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.126, which implies meaningfully stronger gross yield potential, though its overall score of 71 suggests other factors, possibly stability or demand quality, weigh against it. Independence County offers a rent-to-price ratio of 0.059 at a $178,977 median, closer to Perry's price range but with a lower overall score of 71. The practical read: choose Perry over its neighbors when your thesis is appreciation and you have tolerance for limited cash flow visibility. Choose Jefferson County if gross yield is the priority and you are willing to accept the lower overall score and the diligence work that a depressed-price market requires. Choose Prairie or Scott County if you need to go under $155,000 to make debt service work, accepting a modest score discount to get there.